McBirney Sets 800 Record, King Heptathlon Mark to Lead Men's Track & Field on Saturday

By Jim Fenton

BOSTON, Mass. -- For the second time in three weeks, Kevin McBirney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) has set a Bridgewater State University men's indoor track & field record.

McBirney completed the 800-meter race in 1:52.54 at the Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational, held at Boston University on Saturday, to finish 28th in a field of athletes from all divisions.

That breaks the mark of 1:53, set in 2018 by Joshua Higgins.

McBirney set a new BSU record in the 1,000-meter run at the Branwen Smith-King Invitational on Jan. 18 at Tufts University.

He finished first in that race in 2:29.42, breaking the record of 2:29.69 that was held by Andy Sukeforth in 2012.

McBirney was the lone BSU male athlete at the BU meet.

At the heptathlon at Tufts, which began with four events on Friday, BSU junior Ryker King (Wareham, Mass.) placed ninth and set a school record while freshman Drew Alves (Taunton, Mass.) was 17th.

In the three events on Saturday, King picked up 800 points by finishing fourth in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.76 seconds, 747 points with a fourth-place finish in the 1,000 (2:51.75) and 357 points after tying for 11th in the pole vault (9'10"/3.00m).

King wound up the seven-event heptathlon with 4,049 points as he eclipsed the Bears' indoor record of 3,978 points set by Jamie Carlson in 2018.

Alves scored 704 points in the 60 hurdles (a personal-best 9.19, 10th place), 481 points in the 1,000 (3:20.06, 18th) and 264 points in the pole vault (8'6.25"/2.60m, 18th).

Alves scored 3,658 points in the seven events.

The team was well represented at Harvard University's Crimson Open in Cambridge and also had two athletes complete the two-day heptathlon at the Tufts Cupid Challenge.

At the Harvard meet, three BSU athletes placed fourth in their events.

Junior Kyle Ackroyd (Charlestown, R.I.) was fourth in the 3,000 with a time of 9:00.22.

Senior Chigozie Adigwe (Lowell, Mass.) finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.34 seconds.

Freshman Alex Huynh (Stoughton, Mass.) took fourth in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 1.5 inches (6.74m).

The Bears had three runners place in the top 12 in the 200-meter race.

Sophomore Matthew Mooney (Douglas, Mass.) was fifth in 22.59. Mooney was also 12th in the 60-meter dash as he tied his PR with a time of 7.11 seconds, and finished 15th in the long jump (20'6.5"/6.26m).

Junior Dasean Peters-Wolfe (Mansfield, Mass.) was eighth with a personal-best time of 22.72 in the 200 while sophomore Jack Paula (Randolph, Mass.) was 12th in 22.92.

BSU had several other athletes with top 15 performances at the Harvard meet.

Junior Chris Beaulieu (Monson, Mass.) was 10th in the 400 with a PR of 51.41 seconds while junior Nicholas Grace (Acushnet, Mass.) was 13th in the event in 52.01.

In the 800, sophomore Brian Vale (Assonet, Mass.) was 13th in a PR of 2:03.67.

Beaulieu was 10th in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 3.25 inches (6.48m).

In the weight throw, sophomore Kaelan McDonald (Washington, Conn.) was ninth with a PR of 38 feet, 7.75 inches (11.78m).

In the mile, junior Mitchell Parent (Cumberland Center, Maine) was 13th in a personal-best time of 4:36.67 followed at No. 14 by sophomore Aydan Fournier (Assonet, Mass.) in 4:37.62.

BSU will seek to defend the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference title on Feb. 16 at Wheaton College in Norton. The Bears have won five straight MASCAC championships.