Gagne, Reed Lead Men's Track On Final Day to Fourth Place Finish at America East Championships

ORONO, Maine – Justin Gagne (Biddeford, Maine) won the title in the shot put and James Reed (Garmisch, Germany) had three top-4 finishes to lead the University of Maine men's track and field team on the final day of the America East Indoor Championships hosted by the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, Mass. The Black Bears placed fourth with 126 points.

Gagne captured the title in the shot put with an IC4A-qualifying throw of 57-03.50. The throw by Gagne, the school-record holder in the event, ranks among the top-3 in school history.

Donald Clark (Winslow, Maine) was just behind Gagne in fourth with an IC4A-qualifying throw of 52-02.00, which is a top-10 school mark while Brian Woodbury (Scarborough, Maine) was seventh with a mark of 49-00.75.

Reed took runner-up honors in the 60-meter hurdles with an IC4A-qualifying time of 8.01. The time is second-best in conference championship history and top-3 in school history as Reed is also the school-record holder in the event.

Reed also placed fourth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.05 and was a member of the runner-up 4X400 relay team along with Joseph Viola (Scarborough, Maine), Frank Del Duca (Bethel, Maine) and Jake Leithiser (Old Town, Maine) that notched a time of 3:18.52, which qualifies for the IC4A Championships and is a top-4 school mark.

Leithiser also took seventh in the 60-meter hurdles with a top-5 school time of 8.49 and was fifth in the 400 with a top-10 school time of 49.57 with teammate Paul Kelley (Hopkinton, Mass.) in eighth with a time of 50.74. Leithiser also placed eighth in the high jump with a leap of 6-02.25, which was just behind Tyler Martin (York, Maine) who took fifth with 6-04.25.

Alexander Moser (York Harbor, Maine) took second in the mile with a time of 4:13.96 and was fourth in the 1,000 with a time of 2:30.14. He was also on the 4X800 relay team with Liam Nee (Cornish, Maine), Logan Nee (Cornish, Maine) and Greg O'Donnell that placed fifth with a time of 7:56.03. Liam Nee also took fifth in the 800 with a time of 1:55.52.

Kelton Cullenberg (Chesterville, Maine) was third in the 3,000 with a time of 8:27.69 while Matthew Toothaker (Hampden, Maine) was fifth in the heptathlon with 4,690 points, a top-5 school mark.

Nathaniel Meade (Waldoboro, Maine) took the runner-up spot in the triple jump with a leap of 47-11.75, a top-5 school mark.

Albany won the championship with 231.50 points followed by Binghamton with 134.50 and UMBC with 130.