MANSFIELD, Conn. – Griffin Urnezis and Kyle Thomas each won a pair of gold medals individually as the Keene State College outdoor track and field teams collected eight individual wins at the 2026 Little East Conference outdoor track and field championships held at Rick McCarthy Field and host Eastern Connecticut State University on Saturday.

The Owl women led early and threatened for the lead for most of the day before ultimately settling for a second-place finish with 145 points, 14 behind the University of Southern Maine.  The KSC men won six events despite missing key pieces Aidan Law, Tyler Bolaske, and Ethan Vitello among others due to injuries and ultimately placed fifth with 100 points, just eight behind a top four finish.  The Owls had been coming off a momentous victory, winning the LEC indoor championship held at Plymouth State University in February, and still improved on their 89-point output from a season ago.

KSC got off to a strong start on both sides on the day, as Kallie Warner took the women's 10,000-meter race with a win in 39:08.82, winning by 15 seconds, before the men's 4x100 relay team of Alex Nimiroski, Kyle Thomas, Jonathan DeAguiar, and Sean Von Ranson won with a school-record mark of 41.73.  The women's foursome in the same event also set a new KSC-best time, placing second by four hundredths of second (48.14) behind Rhode Island College.  The Owls easily took both sides of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, as Griffin Urnezis beat Ben Colby of Plymouth State by 12 seconds in 9:41.81 before Maggie St. John posted a 22-second victory (11:42.42) on the women's side.

The Owls' early points continued to rack up as Molly Lu McKellar qualified for the finals in the 100 hurdles in a school-record time of 14.95, behind only the University of Massachusetts-Boston's LEC record time of 13.74, and then picked up a bronze in 15.04.  Freshman Andrew Klinedinst picked up four points for KSC's men in the 1,500 meters with a fifth-place finish in 4:08.95, while the Owl women went 4-5-6 with St. John, Bryn Dickinson, and Ava Fortin to get 12 points in the same event.  Elle MacDonald earned a silver in the women's 400 meter dash with a time of 57.81 as a pair of first years battled it out (Naibel Noriega of Rhode Island College).  Thomas then took the 100 meter dash by over two tenths of a second, winning in 10.63.

KSC did not have scorers in the 800 meters or in the men's 400 hurdles before they had three in the women's 400 hurdles, including Miranda Poirier with a bronze (1:08.79) and McKenna Castor in fourth (1:09.13).  Thomas added a second win, also taking the 200 meters in 21.78 while Caroline Cooper was fourth for the women in the same event.  Urnezis blew through the steeplechase field before picking up a second gold in the 5,000 meters in 15:21.62, pacing with and eventually surpassing senior Max Goodman of Plymouth State.  Klinedinst picked up five points for the Owls in fourth (15:44.21). St. John was also fourth in the event on the women's side in 18:39.44.

Keene State's injury depletions, particularly on the men's side, forced event adjustments and perhaps wore them down as the day went on, as the final two relay events added nine points for the women and four for the men.

Elsewhere, KSC excelled in the javelin, as sophomore Troy Tenney won it on the men's side with a throw of 53.94 meters on his final attempt to beat Loudon Chupas of Rhode Island College.  On the women's side, Makenna Knapp (35.14 meters) and McKellar (34.46 meters) placed second and third, respectively.

Mia Cruz picked up a bronze in a very close women's high jump, one that required PSU's Lisi Palmer to win a jump off, and Cooper was also third in the triple jump (10.77 meters).  McKellar, who qualified for the NCAA championship in the pentathlon in the winter and is currently 18th in the heptathlon in outdoor, finished second in the shot put (12.35 meters) behind Jaigan Boudreau of Southern Maine.  The Owls were missing both Aidan Law and Eden Damis on the men's side, a duo that helped combine for three gold medals on KSC's conference-winning indoor team.

Keene State still put up some impressive finishes, with the men's 4x100 relay win marking the first in the event in program history at the conference's outdoor championships.  Thomas' victory in the 100 is the Owls' first since 1999 (Matt Zaffini), while Urnezis gave KSC its first men's steeplechase winner since Corey Loonan in 2013 and 10th overall.  St. John was the first women's 3,000 meter steeplechase conference champion in a decade (Kait Wheeler, 2016), while Urnezis became the eighth champion in the 5K – first since Hayden Patterson and Philip Parent won back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.  KSC's last 200 champion before Thomas today came from Angel Ramirez in 2019, while Tenney became the eighth champion in the javelin with his personal record mark, one that was over five meters further than last week at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.  NCAA qualifier Joey Fodor had been KSC's last champion in the event.  Warner helped the Owls continue their dominance in the women's 10,000 meters, winning it for the sixth time including the third time in the last four years as Grace Furlong took home gold in 2023 and 2024.

"We fought hard today and left it out there," said Keene State head coach Dan Roark.  "We have tough conference and it was a battle.  Happy with the medals we had…we had some strong performances and a few wins."

Last year at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, the Owls had picked up three golds as Tyler Bolaske won the 1,500 meters, Jake Velazquez the 10,000 meters with an LEC record time, and Eden Damis the triple jump.

UMass-Dartmouth took home the men's team title for the fourth time in the last five years with 167.5 points to beat host Eastern Connecticut (151).  Southern Maine placed third with 146.5 and Rhode Island College fourth (107) before KSC slotted into fifth with 100, 21 points ahead of sixth-place Plymouth.  USM won the women's side for the sixth straight time, having enough to edge KSC 159-145.  ECSU accumulated 126 points for third while RIC had 102 in fourth.

KSC now turns their attention to the New England Division III championships at Springfield College next weekend (Saturday, May 2).

ALL-LITTLE EAST HONORS
First Team
Kyle Thomas (men's 100 meters, men's 200 meters)
Griffin Urnezis (men's 5,000 meters, men's 3,000 meter steeplechase)
Troy Tenney (men's javelin)
Men's 4x100 meter relay (Alex Nimiroski, Kyle Thomas, Jonathan DeAguiar, Sean Von Ranson)
Kallie Warner (women's 10,000 meters)
Maggie St. John (women's 3,000 meter steeplechase)

Second Team
Elle MacDonald (women's 400 meters)
Makenna Knapp (women's javelin)
Molly Lu McKellar (women's shot put)
Women's 4x100 meter relay (Mia Cruz, Keely Giordano, Caroline Cooper, Elle MacDonald)

Third Team
Ben Tetu (men's 10,000 meters)
Maya Wedge (women's 10,000 meters)
Molly Lu McKellar (women's 100 meter hurdles)
Miranda Poirier (women's 400 meter hurdles)
Mia Cruz (women's high jump)
Caroline Cooper (women's triple jump)
Molly Lu McKellar (women's javelin)

All-Rookie
Andrew Klinedinst (men's 5,000 meters)
Ellie Tighe (women's 5,000 meters)
Miranda Poirier (women's 400 meter hurdles)
Makenna Knapp (women's javelin)