Men’s Track & Field Captures Fourth Straight MASCAC Indoor Title

NORTON, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University men's track & field team captured its fourth straight conference indoor title and sixth in the last ten years on Saturday at the 2022 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships held at Wheaton College.

Bridgewater State amassed 254 team points as the Bears outdistanced second place Westfield State University (153 pts.) by a wide margin. Fitchburg State University rounded out the top three teams with 113 points.

The Bears captured ten individual MASCAC championships as well as a pair of conference relay titles.

Graduate student Trevor Wysong (Taunton, Mass.), senior Matthew Lighten (Dalton, Mass.), junior Exondus Barnes (East Providence, R.I.) and freshman Kevin McBirney (East Providence, R.I.) each captured a pair of MASCAC individual titles.

Wysong was the first to cross the finish line in both the 3,000-meter run (9:00.25) and 5,000-meter run (15:40.48), while Lighten placed first in the 60-meter dash (6.95) and 200-meter dash (22.23). Barnes captured top honors in the high jump (6'2.75"/1.90m) as well as the long jump (22'11.25"/6.99m), and McBirney won both the mile run (4:41.44) and 1,000-meter run (2:40.93).

Lighten's time in the 60 marked a career best, while Barnes recorded a career-best mark in the long jump.

Sophomore Dimetri Morris (North Andover, Mass.) and junior Jacob Belcher (Halifax, Mass.) rounded out the Bears' individual event winners. Morris placed first in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 8.34 seconds, while Belcher captured top honors in the weight throw with a career-best toss of 48 feet, six inches (14.78m).

McBirney also picked up a win in the 4x400-meter relay as he teamed with freshman Chigozie Adigwe (Lowell, Mass.) and sophomores Mason Matias (New Bedford, Mass.) and Michael Young (Shrewsbury, Mass.) to post a time of 3:37.41.

Matias and Young also teamed with freshmen Nathan Candido (Taunton, Mass.) and Gavin Weldon (Taunton, Mass.) to win the 4x200-meter relay with a time of 1:34.30.

Qualifying members of the BSU men's track and field team will compete at the Division III New England Championships hosted by Middlebury College on Friday, February 25th and Saturday, February 26th.

Notes: The Bears also captured the MASCAC indoor championship in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020.