HARTFORD, Conn. – Senior Sam Ahern once again broke his own program mark in the 200-meter dash to lead the Union College men's outdoor track & field team to a sixth-place finish at the Trinity Invitational, hosted by Trinity (Conn.) College at Jessee/Miller Field at Tansill Muldoon Stadium on Saturday.
 
Union finished the day with 40 points, good for a sixth-place tie out of 12 scoring teams at the event. In total, the Garnet Chargers amassed an impressive 13 career-bests, 22 season-best results, three Liberty league qualifiers and two AARTFC Championship qualifiers.
 
Ahern provided the highlight of the day by breaking his own program standard in the 200, crossing the line in 21.58 seconds to shave five-hundredths of a second off his previous career best. He and sophomore Nate Okwaning also finished in a tie for ninth place in the 100-meter dash, both finishing in 10.91 seconds.
 
Union's lone win of the day came from junior Jason Bois in the 110-meter hurdles. After blazing into the finals with a prelim time of 15.02 seconds, the junior cruised to a finals win by finishing in 15.16 seconds, still more than two-tenths of a second ahead of second place.
 
Four Garnet Chargers posted season-best times in the 1,500 meters, led by senior Ben Neff with a time of 3:58.14 that earned him a fifth-place result and a spot at the AARTFC Championships. Junior Will Plante (4:04.83) and senior Ryan Russell (4:06.92) both finished with the best times of their careers in the event and earned a place at the conference championships.
 
Senior Thomas Breimer took third in the 5,000 meters, finishing in a time of 16:25.44 to best 10 other runners.
 
The Garnet Chargers also set new season bests in both relay events. The quartet of Okwaning, Ahern, sophomore Aaron Binion and first-year Aidan Bradley took fourth in the 4x100 and qualified for the AARTFC Championships with a time of 42.37 seconds. In the 4x400, Bradley teamed with juniors Drew Hill and Aidan Savitt and sophomore Kye Norcross to finish in 3:33.24.
 
In the field events, junior Mason Lang earned a third-place result in the shot put with a career-best toss of 14.06 meters. Classmate Nick Entner followed with a career-best javelin throw of 55.25 meters to post a spot in the top-four.
 
Union will head back to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday for its final tuneup before the conference championships, taking part in the RPI Capital District Classic beginning at 2 p.m. in Troy.