BOSTON, Mass. - The Worcester State men's track and field team started off the 2016-2017 indoor track and field campaign much as in past years. In the meet that featured mostly Division II and Division III teams as well as several club teams, the Lancers did quite well at the UMass Boston Invitational.
As stated by head coach Al Halper, "There were some very impressive first efforts, a lot of efforts the showed the athletes that while they have been doing the work, they have a lot of work still to do, and those who found out that they need to do better with their training and focus." He added, "Overall the results were positive and encouraging, especially as to those who came to the first meet and left with a post season qualifier or a career PR in this season's initial competition. We also showed strength and balance as a team doing well in the sprints, jumps and throws overall. It should be a good year if this continues."
Among the top field performances were sophomore Markiesh Harmon (Leominster, Mass.) in the long Jump leaping to an indoor PR of 6.70m to finish second overall and qualify for DIII New England Championships. Harmon also finished eighth in the high jump at 1.85m. Sophomore Scott Page (Baldwinville, Mass.) was also impressive as he took second in the Pole Vault at 4.10m, losing first place based on misses. His vault earned him a spot at the DIII New England Championships. Teammate, senior Brett Robinson (Westborough, Mass.) finished with a vault of 3.50m to finish in seventh place. In the high jump, freshman and last year's Massachusetts high school and NE outdoor champion, Justin Lewis (Lynn, Mass.), jumped 2.00m to take 3rd place while qualifying for the DII New England Championships as well. Lewis also took an eighth place finish with a jump of 12.22m In the triple jump while his teammate, sophomore Ryan Connolly (Braintree, Mass.) bested him by a place with a leap of 12.24m for seventh place.
Finally in the throws, where the Lancers are a dominant force, Worcester State senior Sam Weeks (Methuen, Mass.) won the shot put in 15.34m with freshman Eddie Acuna (Weymouth, Mass.) throw 14.80m for third place as well as Jacob Roumanos (Whitman, Mass.) and sophomore Marcus Vieira (Peabody, Mass.) placing 9th and 10th for four of the top ten in the competition. With their throws, Weeks qualifies for the DIII New Englands and All Division New Englands while Acuna qualifies for the DIII NE meet, but just missed the All Division NE qualifier. In the weight throw, similar success was accomplished. Weeks finished third overall with a throw of 16.04m while Vieira finished fifth with 15.07m his best throw. Again, Weeks qualified for both DIII New Englands and All Division New Englands while Vieira qualified for D3 New Englands only.
There were some solid results in the running events as well. The best running race of the day for the Worcester State squad was the 3000m race near the end of the day. Sophomore Michael Ricci (Peabody, Mass.) ran a personal record as he led the race for about two thirds of the way before falling back to finish in 9:14.33 for fifth overall. His time will put him atop the MASCAC rankings as the season gets underway. Also running well in the event were freshman Richard Custodio (9:44.59) and sophomore Robert Davis (9:47.80). In the 5000m race earlier in the day, sophomore Christian Vera (Worcester, Mass.) ran 16:56.48 after having to stop in the middle of the race to put his spike back on when he was stepped on during the race. Said Halper of the situation, "Christian lost almost 10 seconds just putting the shoe back on. Then he methodically worked himself back into the race to finish strong with a very impressive effort. He never quits in a race. He gets the most out of what he has to give."
In the 800, the mid-distance crew had solid races. Leading the Lancers was junior Jeffrey Davis (Old Lyme, Conn.) who finish in a time of 2:02.72 for fifth place. Following Davis to the line were sophomores Joseph Grider (2:05.50) and Mitchell Cupp (2:07.75) in 7 and 9th place respectively. In the 1000m, freshman Christian Torres (Lowell, Mass.) as a PR for himself with a 2:51.81 in his first collegiate indoor race to finish third in the second heat. In the dashes, freshman Phill Bynum (Peabody, Mass.) ran 7.28 in the 60m despite experiencing a tight hamstring during the race with teammate freshman Jalil Gibson (Lynn, Mass.) not far behind in 7.33 both in their first collegiate race and junior Mamudu Dennis (Worcester, Mass.) finishing in 7.35 out of a different heat. Sophomore Christian Cedullo (Salem, Mass.) turned in the Lancer 200 time in 23.47 while Junior Anthony Lawson (Randolph, Mass.) went 53.28 to post the best team 400m time.
Coach Halper summed the day up stating, "It is very early and we have a lot of work to do. The main purpose of these early meets is to provide a focus for our athletes going into exams and the intersession period. We want to insure that the athletes maintain and if possible, continue to improve during the period where they have to do much of the work on their own. If they did well today, they should not want to lose that edge."
"In all cases, a positive attitude and approach moving forward will help insure our success as the season and the athletes mature. It should be an exciting year," concluded Halper.
Next week the Lancers travel back to the Reggie Lewis Center to compete at the Jay Carisela Invitational on Saturday afternoon/evening, December 10, 2016.