Meet Results

Middlebury, Vt. - A strong start by the Union College men's track and field team propelled them to a fifth-place finish at the Middlebury Winter Classic hosted by Middlebury College Saturday, as the Garnet Chargers registered 63 points on the afternoon.
 
Sophomore Mason Lang started the day in a big way for the program, finishing in first place and picking up 10 points with a 13.91m shot put throw, setting a new personal-best for the White Plains native.
 
In the first traditional men's track event of the meet, the 4x800 team of junior Chris Bulmer, junior Kyle Collins, junior Nick DeBaise, and sophomore Aidan Savitt set the tone for the remainder of the day, blowing away the competition with their first-place finish. The quartet finished the event in 8:46.61, almost 12 seconds ahead of second place finisher Saint Michael's.
 
Junior Ben Neff followed with a strong performance in the first individual event of the day, coming in third in the 3000 meters to tally six points for the Garnet Chargers. Neff's 8:49.15 was just two seconds back of the second-place finisher, rounding out the podium behind two University of Vermont runners. Junior Ryan Russell finished two spots back in fifth in his first event of the indoor season, crossing the line in 8:59.90.
 
In the 600 meters, three Garnet Chargers runners finished in the top ten. Bulmer set a personal-record with a 1:30.45 time, good enough for fifth, while Collins finished in seventh in 1:31.24 and DeBiase finished a tenth of a second behind him in eighth.
 
Junior Sam Ahern was next for Union, finishing in fourth in the 60 meters in the next event, four thousandths of a second off a podium finish en route to five more points for Union. Senior Charlie Alekson followed with a fourth-place finish of his own in the 1000 meters, timing a personal-best with his 2:42.23 clocking.
 
Union picked up six more points with a third-place finish in the 4000-meter distance medley relay, as senior Mark D'Alessandro and a trio of first-years- Jackson Klehr, Will Bonnette, and Bretton Garrick- finished in 11:23.14.
 
The 4x200 unit consisting of first-years Nate Okwaning, Syed Muhammed Ali, Aaron Binion and sophomore Ronnie Rosa Benicio finished the day with another top-five finish for the team, coming in fifth in 1:38.74, three tenths back of fourth-place St. Lawrence.
 
Union will look to continue to build off their top-five team finish in Saturday's meet, getting back to action next week on Saturday at the Utica Blue and Orange Invite.