GORHAM, Maine  -- The University of Southern Maine men's indoor track and field team won eight events en route to winning its first New England Alliance and Little East Conference championships since 2005 Saturday at the USM Field House.
       
Southern Maine, the Alliance meet runner-up the past two seasons, won that championship outdistancing second place Westfield State College by 36 points, 180-144.  Fitchburg State College was third with 79 points followed by Keene State College in fourth with 66 points.
       
In the Little East Conference scoring, USM took the team title in dominating fashion with 244 points.  Keene State was a distance second with 89 points.
       
The New England Alliance meet consists of school representing the Little East Conference and the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC).  Each conference scores its respective champion from the Alliance results.
       
Freshman Tim Even (Stoneham, Maine) was the Huskies' lone double winner, coming from behind to win the mile in 4 minutes, 22.11 seconds, and later winning the 1,000 meters with a time of 2:32.84.
       
Freshman Mattia Zagon (Portland, Maine) set a school record in the long jump, winning the event with a leap of 6.77 meters (22-2 1/2).  That mark broke the school record of 6.72 meters (22-0 3/4) set by Trey Gadbois in the Alliance meet five years ago to the day.
       
Other individual winners for USM included freshman Orion Winkler (Brownfield, Maine) who cleared 4.50 meters (14-9) in the pole vault, freshman AJ Marden (Victory, Vt.) who won his sixth triple jump competition of the season with an effort of 13.46 meters (44-2), junior Justin Richardson (Turner, Maine) took the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:51.89, and sophomore Mason Shepard (Portland, Maine) won the 55-meter hurdles in 8.12.
       
The Huskies 4 x 400-meter relay quartet of sophomore Evan Davis (Fair Haven, Vt.), freshman Jake Moore (Bridgton, Maine), sophomore Corey Gobbi (Haverhill, Mass.) and senior Doug Mercer (Laconia, N.H.) won that event with a time of 3:27.70.
       
Davis gave the Huskies a 1-2 finish in the hurdles finishing right behind Shepard in 8.14.  Freshman Justin Vigeant (Wells, Maine) was runner-up in the 200 meters with a time of 22.75 and the all-freshmen 4 x 800-meter relay was second with a time of 8:11.54.
       
Freshman Ben Manning (Jericho, Vt.), who ran the opening leg of the 4 x 800, earned a third place result in the 800 meters with a time of 1:59.98, and freshman Pierome Sar (Lebanon, Maine) was third in the high jump clearing 1.81 meters (5-11
3/4).
       
Southern Maine will send its qualifiers to the New England Division III Championships being held at M.I.T. next weekend.

Little East Results                                                                      New England Alliance Results


                                                     -USM Sports Information-