GORHAM, Maine – Freshman Ryker Paradis (Lewiston, Maine) of the University of Southern Maine men's track & field team has been named the 2026 Little East Conference Men's Field Rookie of the Year after winning the shot put at the conference championship. The conference announced its full slate of major awards and all-conference teams on Thursday afternoon. All-Little East Conference honors were awarded to the top three finishers and relay team in each event at the conference championship meet. The top rookie performer in each event was also honored with a spot on the All-Rookie Team.
 
Paradis' throw of 16.69m set a new program and championship meet record and is tied for 18th nationally. He also earned All-Rookie honors in the event. Fellow event champions Christian Burke (York, Maine) and Michael Cyr (Caribou, Maine). Burke won the pole vault with a mark of 4.45m and Cyr placed first in the 3000m at 8:57.58.
 
Cyr also earned second team honors in the 5000m with a personal-best time of 15:29.00. Freshman Dylan Courtney (Hampden, Maine/Hampden Academy) and the 4x800 team of junior Cyrus Evans (Farmington, Maine/Mt. Blue), junior Aidan Pecoraro (Westbrook, Maine), freshman Conner Smith (Durham, Maine/Freeport) and freshman Harry Dunne (Hollis Center, Maine/Bonny Eagle) were second team performers as well. Courtney cleared 4.45m to place second in the pole vault. The 4x800 team clocked in at 8:13.64.
 
Senior Michael D'Amico (Belgrade Lakes, Maine/Messalonskee) and Smith also earned all-conference honors with D'Amico earning the third team spot in the pole vault a 4.45m and Smith picking up All-Rookie status in the mile by placing fourth with a personal-best time of 4:29.12.
 
2026 Little East Conference Major Awards
Track Athlete of the Year: Tyler Bolaske, Keene State
Field Athlete of the Year: Ancil Alexander, UMass Dartmouth
Rookie Track Athlete of the Year: Michael Veegh, UMass Dartmouth
Rookie Field Athlete of the Year: Ryker Paradis, Southern Maine
Coaching Staff of the Year: Keene State College

Event	First Team All-LEC	Second Team All-LEC	Third Team All-LEC	All-Rookie
60 Dash	Kyle Thomas	Ethan Vitello	Aidan Law	Ethan Vitello
	Keene State	Keene State	Keene State	Keene State
200	Aidan Law	Ethan Vitello	Kyle Thomas	Ethan Vitello
	Keene State	Keene State	Keene State	Keene State
400	Michael Veegh	Hagen Drake	Justin Riley	Michael Veegh
	UMass Dartmouth	Eastern Connecticut	UMass Boston	UMass Dartmouth
800	Joseph Stanton	Tyler Bolaske	Zach D'Andrea	Tyler Boudreau
	UMass Dartmouth	Keene State	Eastern Connecticut	Rhode Island College
Mile	Tyler Bolaske	Cameron Thompson	Nick Terranova	Conner Smith
	Keene State	UMass Dartmouth	Keene State	Southern Maine
3,000	Michael Cyr	Jackson Caron	Griffin Urnezis	Stephen MacLennan
	Southern Maine	UMass Dartmouth	Keene State	UMass Dartmouth
5,000	Griffin Urnezis	Michael Cyr	Max Goodman	Andrew Klinedinst
	Keene State	Southern Maine	Plymouth State	Keene State
60 Hurdles	Justin Riley	Hagen Drake	Jayden Francois	Hagen Drake
	UMass Boston	Eastern Connecticut	UMass Dartmouth	Eastern Connecticut
High Jump	Sean Patrone	Alex Huynh	None	Ewan McLeod
	UMass Dartmouth	UMass Boston		UMass Dartmouth
		Ewan McLeod
		UMass Dartmouth
Pole Vault	Christian Burke	Dylan Courtney	Michael D'Amico	Dylan Courtney
	Southern Maine	Southern Maine	Southern Maine	Southern Maine
Long Jump	Aidan Law	Alex Huynh	Jayden Francois	Jayden Francois
	Keene State	UMass Boston	UMass Dartmouth	UMass Dartmouth
Triple Jump	Eden Damis	Britain Goodemote	Anthony Drinkwater	Anthony Drinkwater
	Keene State	Vermont State Castleton	UMass Dartmouth	UMass Dartmouth
Shot Put	Ryker Paradis	Ancil Alexander	Mickey Valentino	Ryker Paradis
	Southern Maine	UMass Dartmouth	UMass Dartmouth	Southern Maine
Weight Throw	Brandon Mota	Enrique Edjang	Shamus Culhane	Enzo Valenti
	Rhode Island College	Rhode Island College	Rhode Island College	Plymouth State
4x400	James Saintjean, Hagen Drake,	Michael Veegh, Olubunmi Fabikun,	Justin Riley, Melvin Wiltshire,
	Bode Paquin, Jakeem Wilson	Jaydem Francois, Zane Gordon	Omar Mishal, Elaijah Montiero
	Eastern Connecticut	UMass Dartmouth	UMass Boston
4x800	Edward Yeboah, Cameron Thompson,	Cyrus Evans, Aidan Pecoraro,	Ben Colby, Connor Phillips,
	Jack Barbato, Joseph Stanton	Conner Smith, Harry Dunne	Jack Taylor, Luke Cloutier
	UMass Dartmouth	Southern Maine	Plymouth State