ROXBURY, Mass. – Seven Worcester State University men's indoor track & field athletes qualified for NCAA Division III New England's, while two qualified for ECAC's this past weekend at the Tiger's All Comers Invitational at the Reggie Lewis Center.
"We had a solid return from the winter break," commented head coach Al Halper. "It's nice to have that many qualifiers – especially off the break. It shows that our student-athletes are committed and that they worked towards their goals over the break."
Worcester State dominated the meet in the weights category. Junior Sam Weeks (Methuen, Mass.) came in first with a distance of 14.36m in the shot put, qualifying for not only NCAA Division III New England's, but also ECAC's. Freshman Anthony Christo (Peabody, Mass.) came in behind Weeks at second place with a distance of 13.23m. Marcus Vieira (Peabody, Mass.) and Jacob Roumanos (Whitman, Mass.) came in at third and fifth, respectively.
Vieira was the second Worcester State indoor track & field athlete to qualify not only in the NCAA Division III New England's, but also ECAC's in the weight throw event. He threw for a distance of 15.35m. Weeks and Christo came in behind him with distances of 15.01m and 13.54m, respectively.
Senior Duy Truong (Worcester, Mass.) led in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.50, qualifying for NCAA Division III New England's. Truong also qualified in the 60m dash with a time of 7.17. Freshman Andre Luciano (Milford, Mass.) was another who qualified with a time of 7.23 in the preliminaries of the dash.
Junior Jared Barros (Taunton, Mass.) qualified for NCAA Division III New England's in the 200m dash with a time of 22.59. Christian Cedullo (Salem, Mass.), Benjamin Dussault (Assonet, Mass.), and Luciano came in seventh, eight, and ninth place, respectively.
Sophomore Jeffrey Davis (Old Lyme, Conn.) paced the Lancers at the 800m run with a time of 2:05.28. Right behind him was sophomore Marques Johnson (W. Hartford, Conn.) and Joseph Grider (Hopedale, Mass.) at seventh and ninth places.
Sophomore Markiesh Harmon (Leominster, Mass.), senior Daniel Ross (Foxboro, Mass.), and Luciano placed tied at third in the high jump with a distance of 1.80m. Harmon came in fourth overall in the pole vault with a distance of 6.52m, and came in second on the triple jump with a distance of 12.46. Scott Page (Baldwinville, Mass.) tied at second in the pole vault with a height of 4.10m to qualify for NCAA Division III New England's. Junior Tyler Nims (Ashburnham, Mass.) and Ryan Connolly (Braintree, Mass.) came in fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the triple jump.
"Most of the athletes performed at a level they were before, or improved upon," stated Halper. "This is a great sign for the remainder of the season."
This upcoming weekend, the Lancers indoor track & field team travels to the Tufts Invitational #1.
Full Results Can Be Found HERE