GORHAM, Maine – Ballay Conteh, Kyle Thomas, Mia Cruz, and Keely Giordano all set school records as the Keene State College indoor track and field teams impressed at the USM Husky Invitational Saturday at the Costello Sports Complex.

The meet featured a whopping 29 top three finishes, including four event wins on the women's side and three on the men's side.  As a team, the Owl men won the meet with 162 points – beating host University of Southern Maine by 21 points – while the women were second of the 10 teams with 149 points, edged by five by USM.

Conteh, a first year from Concord, N.H., had perhaps the most impressive effort on a day where there were many, winning the women's long jump with a mark of 5.66 meters on her first attempt – currently the 13th-best in NCAA Division III and just .05 meters from being in the top eight.  The mark also broke a 23-year-old school record previously held by Nicole Geyselaers, who recorded a 5.60 meter long jump in 2003.  Conteh added a second-place 10.91 meter triple jump to her afternoon, just eight hundredths of a meter behind Caroline Cooper's season-best mark that she posted (10.99 meters) to win the event.  Cooper also added a second-place finish in the 400 meters (1:00.98).  Ellie Tighe took the mile with a time of 5:41.88, while the women's distance medley relay added a fourth event win on the day as Ava Fortin, Erin Cole, Bryn Dickinson, and Tighe won in 14:10.31.

KSC set more school records, including one that was immediately broken, as Mia Cruz ran  a 7.34 in the 55 meter dash preliminaries to set a school-best mark before Giordano broke it in the finals with a 7.32, good for second.  Cruz got points for a fourth-place finish (7.47) in the event.  Giordano also added a fourth-place in the 200 meters in 26.57.  Elle MacDonald was third in the same event in 26.46 as the Owls racked up 15 points and had 3-4-5.  MacDonald was also third in the 400 meters (1:01.35), as was Dickinson in the 600 (1:44.71) and Molly Lu McKellar in the long jump (5.09 meters).  Kallie Warner and McKenna Castor each picked up eight points apiece with runner-up finishes in the 3,000 meters (11:21.22) and 55 meter hurdles (8.87), respectively.

On the men's side, the Owls had 15 top three finishes including three event wins to take the meet.  Kyle Thomas broke his 55-meter dash school record by one hundredth of a second, finishing in 6.52 for a second-place nod.  Aidan Law was right behind him in third (6.62) in that event while adding a first-place mark of 22.58 in the 200 meters and a second-place long jump (6.82 meters).  Ethan Vitello accounted for 17 points on his afternoon, including a 12.66-meter triple jump good for second and a third-place run in the 200 meters (23.18).

KSC also got event wins from Tyler Bolaske in the 400 meters (52.01) and Andrew Klinedinst in the mile (4:35.43).  Ben Tetu was neck-and-neck in the mile race, placing second just a tenth of a second behind.  Keith O'Donnell kept the Owls' big day going with a second-place mark in the 400 meters (52.64) and Caden Latulippe was runner-up in the pole vault (4.15 meters).  Sean Von Ranson (52.84, 400 meters), Griffin Urnezis (9:01.05, 3,000 meters), and Logan Conboy (12.53 meters, triple jump) all collected third place points in different events also.  KSC's DMR of Klinedinst, Keagan Ware, Jacob Plante, and Tetu gathered eight points with a mark of 11:22.62.

The Owls also had impressive performances at Division I-hosted meets on Friday entering the weekend, as Bolaske finished third in a field of 45 in the 3,000 meters in 8:25.55 (good for 45th in Division III currently) and Law was second in the long jump (6.93 meters) at the Harvard Invitational.  Maggie St. John was 77th in the 5,000 meters at the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic on Friday night, finishing in 18:36.41.

Keene State currently has six top 50 marks in Division III across both genders, including Law 11th in the long jump (7.19 meters) set on December 6, Conteh 12th in the same event on the women's side (5.66 meters), and McKellar 15th in the pentathlon (3,207 points).  Eden Damis is also 31st currently in the men's triple jump (14.12 meters).

"Today was the best overall meet I've had at Keene State," said Owls head coach Dan Roark.  "The atmosphere, the performances, the total team were at a high level.  I'm very happy with our group.  Four school records broken today and competitive team scores.  I am very happy with this one from top to bottom."

KSC is back in action next Saturday (February 7) when they travel to the River Hawk Invitational hosted by the University of Massachusetts-Lowell – that meet will mark two weeks out from the Little East Conference championships to be held on February 21 at Plymouth State University.