DARTMOUTH, Mass -- The Buccaneers track and field team opened their 2024 season on Saturday at UMass Dartmouth's Corsair Classic. During the meet, Liam Higgins broke the Maritime program record in the javelin throw and qualified for the All-New England meet in May.

Higgins poste a 59.15 meter throw in the javelin, breaking the school's program record in the event. The previous record, already held by Higgins, was set in 2023 with a throw of 55.40 meters, shattering his old record by just under four meters. Liam also finished top 10 in the shot put with a toss of 12 meters even. 

Discus thrower Saverio Relle picked up a top 20 finish in the discus event with a throw of 30.80 meters. 

In the men's triple jump, freshman John Shields finished seventh in the event with a top jump of 12.40 meters, less than one and a half meters behind the winner. 

The Bucs 4x100 meter relay team of Jason Soares, Luke Canniff, Demetri Boozer and Shields finished in seventh place with a time of 46.57 seconds. 

Nikos Biskaduros ran the 100 meter dash in 11.52 seconds, good for a 17th place finish. 

In the steeplechase, Spencer Reeze and Troy Penney finished fifth and sixth respectively.

The Buccaneers picked up a third place finish in the men's 4x400 meter relay with a final time of 3:30.78.

On the women's side, Sydney Sawyer finished 14th in the discus with a throw of 26.88 meters. Sawyer added an 11th place finish in the javelin with a throw of 25.19 meters. 

Freshman Lorelei Lee finished seventh in the steeplechase with a time of 14:03.57. 

The Buccaneers men's team finished ninth in the meet with 32 points and the women's team finished 12th with two points.