UTICA, N.Y. ---- Freshman Alex MacMillan (Brockton) finished fifth in the javelin to highlight an impressive weekend for the Massasoit Community College track & field team at the NJCAA Nationals held at Mohawk Valley CC.
MacMillan tossed the javelin a school record 49.18 meters, breaking his previous best by more than three meters (45.86). The Brockton native became the first Massasoit track & field athlete to medal, as the top eight individuals in each event are recognized at the National meet.
In addition to his record-setting throw, MacMillan also broke the school record in the 200m (22.57) to take 14th place and claimed 12th in the high jump (1.78m).
Nick Vaughn (Kingston) and Kerry O'Neil (Stoughton) each competed in two events at Nationals.
Vaughn took 12th in the 100m dash (11.28) and sprinted a personal best 23.22 in the 200m, good for 26th place overall.
O'Neil, racing at Nationals for the second straight season, finished 14th overall in both the 5,000m (21:57.70) and 1,500m (6:13.34) distance races.
Also competing for Massasoit was freshman Rokas Piragais (Brockton). The Brockton product captured 13th place in the 400m in a time of 51.91 seconds.
On the men's side, MacMillan's fifth place finish gave the Warriors four team points. Overall, Massasoit placed 16th at the 2015 NJCAA Nationals.
"Throughout the season, it was exciting to just get people on the team at first. From that point on we did the best training that we could leading up to the meets," head coach Matt Jordan said. "We knew we had a few potential to make Nationals. So taking four student-athletes out of the 12 that we had, that alone was an accomplishment for our team.
"We are really hoping our trip to Nationals will help build upon what we did this year. Hopefully that will help pull more kids in and make the track team more recognizable on campus."
