MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Union College men's indoor track & field team earned three victories and ended the Middlebury Snowflake Invitational with several more excellent performances to take third place out of eight teams on Saturday afternoon at Virtue Field House.
 
Union finished the day with 113 points to take third, behind only Middlebury College (264.5) and St. Lawrence University (162.5).
 
Seniors Ben Neff and Ryan Russell started off their indoor seasons by going one-two in the mile, with Neff taking top honors out of 28 runners in 4:25.19 and Russell clocking in with a 4:26.67 mile to earn the runner-up spot.
 
Senior Sam Ahern picked up a victory for Union as well in the 200-meter dash, outrunning 36 other competitors with a time of 22.60 seconds, winning the event by nearly a half-second. Sophomores Aaron Binion and Nate Okwaning joined Ahern in the top-10, placing seventh and eighth, respectively. In addition to his 200 win, Ahern ran the 400 meters in 52.41 seconds to place fifth overall.
 
Union also dominated the 800 meters with five of the top-six finishes, led by first-year Liam Fitzgibbon with a first-place run of 2:02.36. Neff (2:04.31), sophomore Jackson Klehr (2:06.35) and senior Nick DeBaise (2:07.22) also earned spots in the top-five as well for the Garnet Chargers.
 
Junior Jason Bois picked up a top-three finish in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing in a time of 8.75 seconds to sit behind only two Middlebury runners. Junior Aidan Savitt added a fourth-place finish in the 600 meters with a time of 1:29.29, as did senior Thomas Breimer with a run of 9:25.36 in the 3,000 meters.
 
Junior Mason Lang earned a pair of top-10 finishes to lead Union in the field events. He took fourth in the shot put, recording a top distance of 12.79 meters on his first attempt and also took seventh place in the weight throw with a top mark of 12.73 meters. He was joined in the top-five of the shot put by classmate Tony Cocchiaro, who placed fifth with a career-best mark of 12.48 meters, while sophomore Aramis Suarez also finished in the top-10 of the weight throw with a career-best toss of 11.76 meters to place ninth.
 
Bois and Binion posted top-five finishes in the jumps as well, with Bois placing fourth in the high jump by clearing 1.70 meters and Binion leaping 12.08 meters in the triple jump to also take fourth place.
 
Union will be back in action on Friday at the Utica Winter Opener beginning at 4 p.m.