LEWISTON, Maine – Freshman Ryker Paradis (Lewiston, Maine) set a new University of Southern Maine program record in the shot put with a mark of 16.49m to win the event at the Maine State Meet on Saturday. The mark is tied for 20th nationally and second in the East region.
 
Two additional field athletes had second place finishers as sophomore Tim Bowler (Danvers, Mass.) placed second in the weight throw with a personal-best mark of 15.70m and senior Christian Burke (York, Maine) placed second in the high jump with a mark of 1.92m. Bowler's mark ranks second in program history.
 
Southern Maine finished fourth out of eight teams with 80 total points.     
 
Track Event Highlights:

• The USM 4x400 team of senior Pashalis Pashalidis (Palo Alto, Cali), senior Jon Dalessandro (Westbrook, Maine), junior Cyrus Evans (Farmington, Maine/Mt. Blue) and senior Maddox Cahill (Sunapee, N.H.) placed third with a time of 3:31.69. The time is Southern Maine's best of the season.
• The 4x800 squad of freshman Conner Smith (Durham, Maine/Freeport), sophomore Preston Gerry (Gray, Maine/Gray-New Gloucester), junior Aidan Pecoraro (Westbrook, Maine) and freshman Harry Dunne (Hollis Center, Maine/Bonny Eagle) also placed third in their event. The team's time was 8:22.21.
• Dunne placed third in the 600 meters with a time of 1:24.86. Gerry placed seventh at 1:27.23.
• Senior Michael Cyr (Caribou, Maine) finished fifth in the 3000 meters with a time of 9:00.72.
• Smith placed seventh in the mile with a time of 4:36.04.
• Cahill placed seventh in the 200m with a time of 23.20 seconds.
• Freshman Kody McCranie (Bow, N.H.) placed eighth in the 400 meters with a time of 52.11 seconds.
• Senior Michael D'Amico (Belgrade Lakes, Maine/Messalonskee) placed ninth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.03 seconds.
• Senior Camden Bessey (Westbrook, Maine) and freshman Gavin Gerry (Gray, Maine/Gray-New Gloucester) placed ninth and 10th in the 800 meters with times of 2:08.69 and 2:09.36.
• Sophomore Logan Berube (Turner, Maine/Leavitt Area) placed 10th in the 200 meters with a time of 23.78 seconds.

 
Field Event Highlights:

• Freshman Dylan Courtney (Hampden, Maine/Hampden Academy) placed third in the pole vault with a personal-best mark of 4.60m.
• D'Amico placed fifth in the pole vault at 4.30m.
• Freshman Tyler Bryant (South Portland, Maine) placed sixth in the high jump at 1.77m.
• Freshman Jaden Ruffin (Hollis, Maine/Bonny Eagle) placed sixth in the long jump with a mark of 6.41m.
• Sophomore Trevor Amos (New Gloucester, Maine/Gray-New Gloucester) placed seventh in the weight throw with a toss of 14.52m. He also placed eighth in the shot put with a personal-best throw of 13.17m.
• Burke, freshman Camden Brown (Veazie, Maine/Orono) and Dalessandro placed seventh, eighth and ninth in the pole vault. Burke and Brown each cleared 4.15m, while Dalessandro cleared 4.00m.

 
Up Next:
The Huskies are off next weekend and will return to action on Saturday, February 21 when they travel to Plymouth State for the Little East Conference Championships.