Men's Track and Field Fourth After Day 1 of America East Indoor Championships; Distance Medley Relay Breaks School Record and Earns Silver

BOSTON-- The distance medley relay team of senior Michael Christmas (Invercargill, New Zealand/James Hargest College), freshman Aristotle Johnson (Dover, Del./Dover), sophomore Roy Jones (New Market, Md./Linganore) and junior Chris Snyder (McConnellsburg, Pa./McConnellsburg) earned silver and broke the school record as the UMBC men's track and field team completed action on Day 1 of the 2010 America East Indoor Championships in Boston. The Retrievers currently sit in fourth place with 16 points.

The DMR team finished in an IC4A-qualifying time of 9:58.22, beating the previous school-best time of 9:59.52 set in 2006.

In the first day of the heptathlon, junior Keith Onto (Point Pleasant, N.J./Point Pleasant Boro/St. Francis (PA)) and seniors Michael Buccheri (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan/Monmouth) and Dominic Devaud (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) sit 2-3-4 after the first four events.

Devaud finished seventh in the pole vault with a mark of 4.50m (14'9"), while junior Martin Nevarez (Casa Grande, Ariz./Central Arizona College) picked up eighth with the same height.

Senior Andrew Madison (Edgewater, Md./South River) finished eighth in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 14:54.55, while sophomore Aaron Brooks (Upper Marlboro, Md./Dematha) placed eighth in the weight throw with a heave of 15.00m (49'2.5"). Onto finished eighth in the long jump with a leap of 6.75m (22'1.75").

In the prelims, UMBC will have four finalists in the 55-meter hurdles, including seniors Camal Pugh (Clinton, Md./Oxon Hill), Keith Brown (Columbia, Md./McDonough), Devaud and freshman Trae Proctor (Brandywine, Md./Thomas Stone). Pugh qualified first in an IC4A time of 7.65.

In the 55-meter dash, senior Justin Acker, who's first meet for the Retrievers was last weekend after competing three years at Salisbury, had the third fastest time with 6.51, while fellow senior Mohamed Koroma (Mitchelville, Md./C.H. Flowers/Morgan State) qualified sixth in 6.55.

Sophomore Joshua Hewitson (New Market, Md./Linganore) qualified third in the 500-meter dash in an IC4A time of 1:04.04, while senior Antonio Thomas (Columbia, Md./Long Reach) placed ninth in the 200-meter dash prelims in 22.18.

Albany leads the meet with 61 points, with New Hampshire (41) and Binghamton (39) in second and third, respectively. UMBC is next, followed by Maine (15), Stony Brook (15), Vermont (6) and Boston University (2).

Day 2 action starts Saturday at 10 a.m.