Springfield, MA – The CMCC Men's Track and Field team won its first ever Yankee Small College Conference title, scoring 157 points at the meet hosted at American International College that featured as both the YSCC and USCAA National Championships. The Mustangs finished just off the podium with a fourth-place finish nationally.
The two-day meet started on Friday afternoon with hammer throw and pole vault, but conditions deteriorated on Saturday for the bulk of the events with rain and cold temperatures almost continuously throughout the day.
Hunter Holt and Ben Francis competed in hammer throw to lead things off. Holt's last throw ended up being his best of the day, reaching 23.56 meters to finish in sixth place nationally and fifth in conference. It was also a personal record for the sophomore out of Messalonskee High School, beating his previous long by nearly three full meters. Francis fell just short of a PR of his own, posting a mark of 20.08 meters to finish in eighth place.
Shane Johansen, Robert Spears, and Duncan Brewster were the team's three participants in pole vault. Johansen cleared 2.75 meters but could not get over the 2.90 mark in windy conditions. The 2nd-Team All-American ended up fifth overall in the event contested solely by YSCC member schools. Spears was just behind him in sixth place with a mark of 2.45 meters while Brewster finished eighth after tying his season-high of 2.15 meters.
Day two started with the 10k run. Captain Mark Shepici led off what was scheduled to be a busy day for the distance runner with a time of 45:50.30, pacing himself to pick up four points in the conference standings with a fourth-place finish among YSCC runners. However, disaster would strike the sophomore from Malden, MA in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Shepici stumbled over a barrier early in the race, severely injuring his left foot. The captain soldiered on through the pain to finish a distant 12th but would be out of action for the rest of the day.
Owen Heseltine finished sixth nationally and third in the conference in the steeplechase for the Mustangs with a time of 12:12.52, while Spears came home in ninth overall with a 13:37.51.
The men's 4x100 meter relay kicked off the sprint events. Johansen, Exaucee Namwira, Da'Vohn Jonas, and Djordje Stanimirovic teamed up to place seventh nationally and third in conference for Central Maine, finishing just behind Hampshire College with a time 48.99 seconds.
Stanimirovic would be the only one to contest the 100-meter dash. The Belgrade, Serbia native just missed out on qualifying for the finals with a PR of 11.93 seconds that was good enough for 10th place nationally. He was also the only Mustang in the 200-meter dash, running a 24.66 second time to nab seventh place overall at the line. That was good enough for second in the conference behind UMaine-Augusta's Justyn Johnson.
Meanwhile, Namwira, Jonas, and Johansen competed in the 110-meter hurdles. Namwira was one of the favorites to medal, but stumbled early in the race, forcing the Morse High School product to settle for 10th with a 17.78, just ahead of Johansen in 11th. Jonas would qualify for the finals with a 17.64 preliminary time. The dual athlete from the men's basketball team finished eighth overall and third in conference in the finals with an identical run.
The 400 meters and 400-meter hurdles were similar stories. Stanimirovic was the only entry for the team in the 400m, finishing an impressive sixth overall and second in the conference behind Great Bay's Dennis Bolduc with a time of 55.08 seconds. On the hurdles, Spears and Zachary Peirce joined Namwira and Jonas. The rain picked up intensity by this point in the day making conditions treacherous. Namwira, who had set the fastest time in the USCAA this season, had to settle for a fourth-place overall finish with a time of 1:01.39, good enough for second in the YSCC. Jonas was seventh with a 1:04.58, with Peirce finishing 10th and Spears ending up in 13th.
Peirce would strut his stuff in the javelin though. The freshman out of Foxcroft Academy had a PR by nearly five meters with a massive throw of 42.17, catapulting him to fourth overall and second in the conference. Johansen, Spears, Holt, and Brewster all ended up near each other in the first flight, finishing 14th (25.92m), 15th (25.21m), 17th (24.44m), and 18th (23.07m) respectively.
The throwing events continued with discus and shot put. Francis was the highest finishing CMCC athlete in both. The Orono, ME native placed 10th in discus with a best throw of 27.83 meters, but was fantastic in shot put, reaching 11.39 meters to take the bronze medal nationally and finish second in the conference to UMaine-Augusta's Kayden Ames by just four centimeters.
Holt was 13th in discus (24.75m) and 19th in shot put (7.95m). Spears placed 18th is discus (22.10m) and 15th in shot put (8.38m). Brewster ended up 19th in discus (22.06m) and 21st in shot put (7.29m). And Johansen only threw shot put, battling through a swollen knee to place 11th in the pouring rain even with a throw that was more than a meter shorter than his best of the season.
The Mustangs would have one first-place YSCC medal to take home thanks to the jumping events. Jonas took the conference's top spot in high jump and placed fourth overall in the USCAA by clearing 1.78 meters. Johansen and Francis both cleared 1.70 meters with the sophomore taking tie breaker for seventh place by doing it on his first attempt.
Jonas and Johansen also competed in long jump. Jonas, a freshman from Kingswood, TX and another member of the basketball team, finished just ahead of his teammate in sixth place with a 5.76m leap. Johansen settled for sixth with a 5.45m mark. He would be the only member of the team to contest the triple jump though, reaching 11.10 meters to finish ninth overall.
Brosnan Comeau joined fellow cross country runners Heseltine and Peirce for the remaining distance events. In the 1500 meters, Comeau gutted out a 10th place finish overall with a time of 4:45.11. Heseltine came home 14th in 4:54.97, and Peirce ended up in 19th with a mark of 5:05.26.
The 800 meters saw Comeau finish third in conference and 14th nationally by running a 2:18.45, with Heseltine placing 18th overall in 2:25.88. Both also contested the 5000 meters. Comeau's time of 18:37.14 was good for eighth overall and second in conference behind NHTI's Eli Lemire who won the USCAA national title. Heseltine ended his day with an 11th place finish in 20:00.10.
The final event of the day was the 4x400 meter relay. The Mustangs team of Namwira, Peirce, Jonas, and Stanimirovic finished fifth overall in 3:54.75, just behind the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences for the conference title, to round out the competition.
CMCC had at least one representative in all 20 events, compiling 59 points to finish just off the podium in fourth place for the USCAA National Championships. SUNY-ESF took home the title with 119 points, well ahead of ACPHS in second and Florida National University in third.
The Mustangs' depth really became apparent when the events were separately scored for the YSCC title. Central Maine took home their first ever Yankee Small College Conference championship with 157 points, just ahead of ACPHS in second with 155 points. Hampshire rounded out the podium in third with 90 points, and UMaine-Augusta and VTSU-Randolph completed the top five ahead of NHTI, York County, and Great Bay.
The men's track and field team becomes the third Central Maine athletic program to win the conference crown in 2024-25.
