Bergeron takes second at national 5K race
Westford Academy senior Paul Bergeron again showed he’s one of the best long distance high school runners in the country.
Bergeron finished second in the 5K race at the New Balance Indoor Nationals, a four-day event in Boston.
Bergeron, bound for Stanford University in the fall, blazed to a time of 14 minutes, 14 seconds. His teammate, Jack Graffeo, also ran a terrific race, finishing seventh in 14:49.
On the girls side, Lowell’s 4×200 relay team finished 32nd in 1:45.98 thanks to the efforts of Anneliese Nogueria, Quinn Petzold, Britney Ogiegor and Drea Defreitas.
College track
HARRIS SHINES >> Franklin Pierce’s Stephen Harris, a senior from Billerica, took third place in the 200-meter finals at the DII NCAA Championship Saturday in Pittsburg, Kan., earning All-america First Team honors.
Harris senior ran a 21.17 in the race, 0.08 seconds behind Minnesota State’s Jabez Reeves, who took gold. Harris flew past Uc-colorado Springs runner Kymani Sterling to secure the final podium spot by 0.15 seconds.
Harris, the NE10 Men’s Track Athlete of the Year, was one of six Northeast-10 individuals and one relay that competed in Kansas.
Harris has put together a list of school and conference records along top finishes this season, most recently at the Northeast-10 Conference Championships, where he won the 60-meter dash, 200 and the high jump. Harris joined fellow Raven Wondu Summa (Burlington, Vt.) as the men’s Comost Valuable Athletes of the championships.
College hockey
UML TO FACE UNH >> Prior to Friday, Umass Lowell and New Hampshire hadn’t faced each other all season.
On Wednesday, in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs, the teams will do battle for the third time in six days.
New Hampshire will be the heavy favorite considering the Wildcats blanked the River Hawks 4-0 on Friday in Lowell and then 4-0 again Saturday in Durham, N.H.
UNH will host the game
Wednesday at the Whittemore Center at 7 p.m.
Umass Lowell (8-23-4, 4-17-3), the last seed, enters the playoffs on a six-game losing streak, having been shut out three times and managing just five goals over that period.
No. 6 New Hampshire (1914-1, 12-11-1), meanwhile, is enjoying a resurgent season under head coach Mike Souza, its best in 11 seasons.
On Saturday, junior Luke Pavicich (Clarence Center, N.Y.) got the nod between the pipes for the River Hawks, making 32 saves.
“Difficult weekend for us,” said UML head coach Norm Bazin. “Obviously, not the results we were looking for heading into playoffs, but that’s what we’re faced with.”
College basketball
DUCHARME SHINES >> Make it a three-peat as Northeast-10 Conference women’s basketball champions for the Bentley University Falcons, who also earned an automatic berth into next weekend’s NCAA Division II East Regional.
Tournament MVP and sophomore forward Ciara Norman came off the bench for a season-high 15 points, junior forward Kylie Ducharme (Wilmington/wilmington HS) impressed at both ends and graduate guard Ella Thompsonscored all nine of her points during the Falcons’ closing 11-0 run as the top-seeded Falcons bested sixth-seeded Southern Connecticut State, 6449, Sunday afternoon in the NE10 championship game in Waltham.
Ducharme finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.