McPherson Breaks Hammer Mark at MIT Invitational

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Junior Michael McPherson (Mansfield, Mass.) broke his own school record in the hammer throw to lead the Bridgewater State University men's outdoor track and field team at the MIT Invitational on Saturday.

McPherson posted a distance of 172 feet, two inches (52.47 meters) to place second in the hammer at the meet.  He surpassed his previous mark of 170 feet, eight inches (52.02 meters) set earlier this season at the BSU Bears Invitational.

McPherson also captured top honors in the shot put with a toss of 50 feet, 10.75 inches (15.51 meters), and qualified for the Division III New England Championships in the discus with a distance of 135 feet (41.16 meters) as he place eighth in the event.

Junior Stephen Wahome (Lowell, Mass.) placed first in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:01.40 and qualified for DIII New Englands in the event.

Wahome also ran a leg on the Bears' first place 4 x 800-meter relay along with freshmen Josh Goehring (Haverhill, Mass.) and Brendan Zielinski (Bethel, Conn.) and sophomore Andy Sukeforth (Middleboro, Mass.).  The relay team posted a time of 7:57.76 to qualify for the ECAC Championships.

Junior Joshua Wakefield (North Dighton, Mass.) finished seventh in the hammer throw with a Division III New England qualifying distance of 146 feet, three inches (44.57 meters).  Freshman Christian Lavoie (Marion, Mass.) added a sixth place showing in the discus checking in at 141 feet, eight inches (43.19 meters).

Also securing spots at the Division III New England Championships were sophomore Joshua Danner-Hicks (Haverhill, Mass.) in the 100-meter dash (11.19 seconds), Sukeforth in the 800-meter run (1:55.72) and junior Cedric Lamour (Brockton, Mass.) in the 110-meter hurdles, placing fourth, fifth and eighth in their respective events.

Bridgewater's 4 x100-meter relay team of Danner-Hicks, junior Felix Mensah (Lowell, Mass.), freshman Jonathan Sicard (Norton, Mass.) and sophomore Timothy Judge (East Bridgewater, Mass.) qualified for both the ECAC and NEICAAA championship meets with a second place time of 43.53 seconds.

Next weekend the Bears compete at the MASCAC and New England Alliance Championships hosted by UMass Dartmouth.