MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.— Graduate student Anthony Rodriguez (Prairie View, Ill.) and first-year Aithan Bezanson (Danvers, Mass.) posted the top performances for the Babson College men's track & field team to the help the Beavers place ninth out of 31 teams at the Alan Connie Shamrock Invitational on Saturday inside Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium. 

The Beavers registered seven top-8 finishes on the day and finished ninth in the team standings with 41 points. Mount Olive claimed the team title with 99.5 points and Mount St. Mary's (83) and Coastal Carolina (71.5) rounded out the top three.

Rodriguez came in second place in the 3000 meters, finishing in a time of 8:34.70 and shattering the program record of 9:51.91 set by Brian DeLeon at the UMass Lowell Invitational on April 6, 2013. He was four-plus seconds behind Norman Junker of UNC Pembroke and more than 12 seconds ahead of third-place Will Callender of Wooster. Rodriguez finished fourth in the mile run on Friday.

Bezanson registered four top 10 finishes in his collegiate debut for the Beavers, highlighted by a first-place finish in Open Flight B of the high jump with a leap of 6-feet, 2.75-inches, which is tied for second-best in program history and just a half-inch off the program record. Classmate Michael Beauchesne (Halifax, Mass.) was third in the high jump with a mark of 5-feet, 10.75 inches.

Bezanson also finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles in 56.61 seconds, seventh in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.59 seconds, and ninth in the javelin with a throw of 173-feet, 8 inches. His time in the 400 hurdles is second-fastest in program history and just 0.09 off the program record, while his mark in the javelin is fourth-best in program history and less than five feet shy of the program standard.

First-year Patrick Allardi (Andover, Mass.) turned in a strong performance in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing fifth in a time of 15.25 seconds. His time is fifth-best in program history, and just 0.30 seconds off the program record of 14.95.

Sophomore Almond Nickerson IV (Darien, Conn.) produced an eighth-place finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:25.71. First-year Evan Dang (Fremont, Calif.) placed 20th in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:03.53.

The Beavers return to action at the Black and Gold Invitational at Bryant University on March 28-29 in Smithfield, R.I.

MEET NOTES
• Babson has three athletes who reached the qualifying standard for the New England Division III Championships this week in six events.
• Sophomore Chris McDonough (North Andover, Mass.) qualified in the 100 meters and Allardi in the 110-meter hurdles.
• Bezanson has qualified in four events, the 110-meter hurdles, the 400-meter hurdles, the high jump and the javelin.