Dec. 6, 2008

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - This weekend marked the start of a long indoor track season for the Providence College Friars track teams. The men and women competed back-to-back at the Fordham Invitational on Friday, December 5th at Fordham University and Saturday, December 6 at the Brown Invitational at Brown University.

The men enjoyed some sucessful performances this opening weekend, Senior Nick Berluti (Westwood, Mass.) led the Friar men with a victory in the mile in a time of 4:22.7. Sophomore Nicholas Barao (Riverside, RI) placed third in the 3,000 meter run in a time of 8:49.8. On the sprinting side, sophomore Brian Stannard (East Longmeadow, Mass.) took third in the 400 meter dash (53.2), followed by senior teammate Alan Pandiani (Shrewsbury, Mass.) in fourth (53.3). Sophomore Thomas Manglaviti (Southhampton, N.Y.) placed second in the 200 meter dash, his time was 23.4.

At the Brown Invitational, senior Nick Berluti (Westwood, Mass.) once again was victorious, this time in the 1000 meter run (2:31.19), followed by sophomore teammate Nicholas Barao (Riverside, R.I.) placed second (2:36.98) and freshman Corey Brunelle (Woonsocket, R.I.) in third (2:39.60). In the 3,000 meters run, Providence took the top two places with freshman Matt Terry (Danbury, Conn.) and sophomore Stephen Hankinson (Summit, N.J.) finishing respectively with times of 8:50.29 and 8:50.78. In the sprints, sophomore Brian Stannard (East Longmeadow, Mass.) placed third (37.42). In the jumps, Phillip Connaughton (Broken Arrow, Okla.) took fourth in the long jump with a leap of 19' 10".

The Friar men look forward to the next competion at the University of Rhode Island Invitational on Saturday, January 17, 2009.