Men's Track and Field 12/14/2024 10:31:00 PM

Booker, Vachon, and Burns Qualify for New England Championship at USM Alumni Open

Photo Courtesy of James Liebowitz

GORHAM, Maine – Three University of Maine at Farmington men's track and field athletes qualified for the New England Championship at the University of Southern Maine Alumni Open, as Owen Booker (Lisbon, Maine), Ben Vachon (Portland, Maine), and Logan Burns (Islesboro, Maine) each earned qualification.

Top Beaver Performances

Booker and Vachon each qualified for the New England Championship in the triple jump, finishing 3rd and 4th, respectively. Booker's best jump of 13.24 meters earned him 3rd place, while Vachon's mark of 13.12 meters placed him 4th. Currently, Booker ranks 3rd in New England in the triple jump, with Vachon ranked 5th.

In the long jump, Burns and Vachon finished 1st and 2nd, respectively. Burns qualified for the New England Championship with a jump of 6.73 meters, while Vachon—who had already qualified for the New England Championship last weekend—had his best jump of 6.67 meters to finish 2nd. Burns currently ranks 3rd in New England in the long jump, while Vachon is ranked 5th out of 102 competitors.

Nate Trussell (Berwick, Maine) set a program record in the 55-meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 7.89 seconds (an 8.59-second conversion for the normal 60 meters). Trussell took 1st place in the event and also added a 2nd place finish in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.82 seconds. Additionally, Trussell finished 2nd in the 300 meters with a time of 38.34 seconds, just 0.17 seconds behind Southern Maine's Albert Matrille. Seamus Reeve (Kittery, Maine) placed 5th in the 300 meters with a time of 39.33 seconds.

Sophomores Ethan Linscott (Lakeville, Maine) and Joseph Burgess (New Gloucester, Maine) finished 1st and 4th, respectively, in the mile. Linscott won the event with a time of 4:44.45, while Burgess posted a time of 5:16.02 to finish in 4th.

In the 5,000 meters, Farmington had five runners finish inside the top-nine. Andrew LaFlamme (Nashua, N.H.) placed 3rd with a time of 16:01.51, Jimmy Reel (Nashua, N.H.) was 4th with 16:12.95, James Riley (Shrewsbury, Mass.) took 6th with 17:17.96, Alexander Gagnon (Goffstown, N.H.) finished 8th with 17:28.53, and Samuel Perkins (no hometown listed) placed 9th with 17:37.59.

In the shot put, sophomore Alex Crews (Winslow, Maine) finished 3rd with a best throw of 13.22 meters.

In total, the men's team earned eight new top-ten marks in program history.