Nineteen different individuals contributed points as team depth carried men’s track and field tto its second straight New England Alliance championship Saturday at the Gantcher Family Sports & Convocation Center on the Tufts University campus.

Eastern totaled 145 points to edge the University of Southern Maine by seven points and successfully defend its title of a year ago in the tenth annual championship meet. The chase for the team title was essentially a three-team race between Little East Conference schools Eastern and Southern Maine and Westfield State College from the Massachsuetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC). The Owls, second to Eastern by nine points a year ago, collected 117 points. Rhode Island College of the Little East was well back in fourth place, with 59 points.

The New England Alliance is comprised of five Little East schools and five MASCAC institutions. Meet scoring identifies alliance, Little East, and MASCAC champion.

In addition to claiming the alliance championship, Eastern also defended its Little East title as 21 individuals scored points in a 15-point win over Southern Maine. The Warriors had 172 points – the most by the champion since Eastern had 187 en route to its first indoor championship in 2002. Southern Maine totaled 157, far ahead of Rhode Island’s 73-point effort.

Southern Maine, which has won three alliance titles in the last seven years, led Eastern by seven points in the standings with two events remaining in the 17-event competition Saturday. While the Warriors were earning 23 points in the shot put, however, the Huskies were shut out in that event as Eastern surged into a 142-126 lead with only the triple jump remaining. Needing 16 points to tie, Southern Maine collected 12 in that final event while Eastern was tacking on three more of its own behind freshman Gregory Dinas’s (Stamford/Brien McMahon HS) sixth-place finish.

`Behind Dinas and freshman Jose Rodriguez (New Haven/Wilbur Cross HS), seven first-year competitors contributed more than half of the team’s alliance and conference point totals in individual events. First-year participants accounted for 74 of the team’s alliance total and 96 of its conference total.

In Little East Conference scoring, Dinas totaled a team-high 24 points in there events, while Rodriguez added 20 points in two events and also ran the opening leg of the 4x400 meter relay with was third in the alliance and second in the conference. Also among newcomers, freshmen Jamie Mikolinski (Northford/North Branford HS) and Allen D’Alessandro (Coventry/Coventry HS) each accounted for 14 points in conference scoring in a total of five events and freshman Chris Gemske (West Hartford/William Hall HS) accounted for 12 points individually and also ran the second leg of the 4x400 relay.

While Southern Maine (6) won twice as many alliance events as Eastern (3), the Warriors used superior depth to eventually win out. At least three Eastern participants contributed points in five different events, while the Huskies managed that feat in only the pole vault.. In the two weight events – the shot put and the weight throw – Eastern had seven individuals score points as it outscored the Huskies 44-0. The Warriors also held a 17-2 advantage at 200 meters (four individuals scoring points), combined to outscore USM 27-0 in the 55 meters and 55 meter hurdles and 12-3 in the high jump.

Dinas won alliance and conference championships in the 55 hurdles (9.20) and was also second in the high jump in both alliance and conference scoring. In the triple jump, he was sixth in the alliance and third in the conference; Rodriguez won conference titles at 55 (6.55) and 200 meters (22.74), breaking the conference record set last year by currently injured Eastern junior Tope Ayei (Lagos, Nigeria/St. Gregory’s College).

Among veterans, seniors Matthew Zagura (Ellington/Ellington HS) and William Kopplin (Ledyard/Ledyard HS) and first-year junior Jeffrey Batulevitz (Colchester/Bacon Academy) dominated the two weight events which produced 44 points in alliance and 49 points in conference scoring.

In the shot put, Zagura won the alliance title for the third straight year (49-5 ½) and the conference crown for an unprecedented fourth time (no one else has won it more than once). Having qualified provisionally earlier this year for national competition in the 35-pound weight, Zagura won his second straight alliance title and third straight conference championship in that event with a throw of 55-5 ½ , becoming the first individual to win the conference weight championship more than twice. In the weight, Zagura equalled the second-farthest throw of his career and broke his own conference record of 55-2, which he set a year ago.

Kopplin was second to Zagura in the shot in both alliance and conference scoring; in the weight, he was third in the alliance and second in the conference; in the shot, Batulevitz was fourth in the alliance and his third-place finish in the conference gave the Warriors the top three finishers in that event. In the weight, he was sixth in the alliance and fourth in the conference.

Based upon their performances, four individuals also qualified for post-season competition during the meet: Dinas in the triple jump, Kopplin in the shot put, Gemske at 200 meters and juior Mykal Kuslis (Watertown/Watertown HS) at 400 meters. Kopplin met the standard for next month’s ECAC Division III meet while the others qualified for next weekend’s Division III New England meet at Bates College.

In all, Eastern competitors won three individual alliance titles and five conference championships and were named all-alliance a total of 31 times and all-conference 21 times. The top eight finishers earn the former honor and top three the latter. The top three relays are awarded all-alliance and all-conference.

In six years under head coach Frank Poulin, Eastern men's and women's athletes have been named all-alliance or all-conference a total of 438 times in this indoor meet, and 54 have won alliance and conference individual or relay titles.