WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Senior Aidan Hennessy (Granby), who won two individual events in helping the Eastern Connecticut State University men's track & field team claim its second Little East Conference outdoor championship in four years Saturday, has been named LEC Men's Field Athlete-of-the-Year for the outdoor season, announced today.

In addition, the coaching staff of second-year head coach David Nicholson '06 was named Men's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year for the outdoor season after leading the Warriors to their second title in four years (eighth overall) with a 46-point win over runner-up University of Southern Maine Saturday at Dartmouth, MA.

Hennessy scored 20 of Eastern's 191 points by repeating as the LEC outdoor high jump champion with a personal-best mark of 6-4 ¾ and winning his second outdoor triple jump title (44-7) in four years.  The triple jump mark was shy of his PR of 46-9 ½ set in winning last year's New England outdoor championship.

Hennessy becomes the first Eastern male athlete to win this award in outdoor competition. Previous  field athlete winners from Eastern have been Collin Wiltshire and Wendie Stewart. Wiltshire was named indoor Male Field Athlete-of-the-Year last year before missing the outdoor season with injury, and Wendie Stewart was selected Female Field Rookie-of-the-Year indoors in 2019/20.

Hennessy won the triple jump as the top seed in a field of 11 competitors, winning by four-and-a-half inches over runner-up Zyeem Charles of the UMass Dartmouth. Hennessy was seeded second in the high jump to University of Southern Maine's Christian Burke and was one of three competitors to jump 6-4 ¾ in a field of 13, winning on jumps. Hennessy easily cleared the first three heights, advanced by clearing 6-3 ½  on his third and final try, clearing 6-4 ¾ on his first attempt and missing at 6-6 (the program record is 6-7) on all three tries.

Nicholson, a five-time LEC outdoor champion at 200 and 400 meters and an indoor All-America, is joined on the coaching staff by assistant coaches Andre Reynolds '15, Dawn Hubbell-Fiondella, David Gibeault and Ikechi Dike. Reynolds coaches the hurdles, Hubbell-Fiondella the distance events,  Gibeault the pole vault, and Dike the throws. The coaching staff honor in track & field is the first for Eastern. Twice previously, former head track & field and cross country coach Kathy Manizza was named Coach-of-the-Year in women's cross country for leading the team to titles in 2017 and 2019.