Heptathlon Dominated America East Championship Meet As Men’s Finish Third Overall

The men’s track and field team swept the podium in the Heptathlon, which led the team to a third place finish in the America East Conference Championship meet as the team totaled 97 points.

Senior Dominic Devaud claimed gold in the heptathlon with 5,216 total points. Of the seven events he was first in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.70. He also finished second in the 55-meter dash in 6.78 and the Pole Vault with the mark of 4.65-meters.

Keith Onto, finished just behind Devaud in the heptathlon with 5,192 total points. The junior won both the long jump’s heptathlon with a mark of 6.55-meters, and the high jump with a mark of 2.01-meters. He finished seconds in the 55-meter hurdles in 7.93 and third in the shot put, 12.02-meters, and 1,000-meter run, 2:44.62.

Senior Michael Buccheri completed the sweep for UMBC as he claimed bronze in the heptathlon, totaling 4,892 total points. He won the high jump with a mark of 2.01-meters, beating Onto on attempts.

All three recorded IC4A-qualifying scores.

But the dominance of the heptathlon did not end there. Junior Marin Nevarez finished sixth in the event, totaling 4,599 points. The usual pole vault competitor won that event with a height of 4.75-meters.

Senior Camal Pugh continued his stellar senior season with gold in the 55-meter hurdles after crossing the finish line in 7.59. Devaud finished just behind him for the silver in 7.65. Trae Proctor added points to the UMBC total with a sixth place finish in 7.89.

The distance medley team of Michael Christmas, Aristole Johnson, Roy Jones, and Chris Snyder finished second overall with a school record time of 9:58.22.

Joshua Hewitson won bronze in the 500-meter dash in 1:03.77 while Christmas finished in fourth in the 800-meter run in 1:54.06.

Helping the Retriever cause was Justin Acker, who finished fourth in the 55-meter dash in 6:56. Just two seconds behind him was Mohamed Koroma, who finished eighth in the event.

Heptathlon medalists’ Buccheri and Onto tied for fifth place in the high jump with marks of 1.88-meters. Onto also finished eighth in the long jump with a mark of 6.75-meters.

Cameron McDearmon and Aaron Brooks finished fifth and sixth in the shot put with marks of 15.14-meters and 14.93-meters, respectively. McDearmon and Brooks also finished seventh and eighth in the weight throw with marks of 15.42-meters and 15.00-meters, respectively. Though he did not add points to the teams total, Evan Palmer was just behind them in the event, finishing ninth with a throw of 14.87-meters

Mid-distance runner Antonio Thomas finished sixth in the 200-meter dash in 22.17.

Devaud and Nevarez tied for seventh place in the pole vault with heights of 4.50-meters.

The men’s 4×400 relay team finished seventh in 3:21.53 while Andrew Madison rounded out all scoring with an eighth place finish in the 5,000-meter run in 14:54.55.