MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - The Worcester State men's track & field team competed at the Wesleyan Invitational Meet in their final tune-up heading into their MASCAC/AllIance Conferences Championships next weekend.

As hoped, there were a number of solid performances throughout the meet.  A number of the results moved Lancer athletes into better seed positions and also produced some impressive season and career PRs along the way.

As has been the case throughout the indoor season, senior Sam Weeks (Methuen, Mass.) set another PR in the 35lb weight throw while winning both the weight and the shot put. His toss of 16.84m/55-3 in the weight also puts him tied for 22nd on the NCAA national list while he is presently tied for 14^th in the nationally in the shotput. Sophomore Marcus Vieira (Peabody, Mass.), who finished second in the hammer with a PR of 16.78m and 5^th in the shot put (13.43m) is right behind Weeks on NCAA national list in the weight in 25^th place. The Lancer throwers, in general, dominated the throwing events with freshman Colin Ford (Middletown, R.I.) also placing with a PR of 12.92m in the weight for 8^th place while in the shot put, besides Weeks and Vieira, freshman Eddy Acuna (Newton, Mass.) took 2^nd in the shot (14.99m) and junior Jacob Roumanos (13.60m) was 4^th overall.

Jumper Markiesh Harmon (Leominster, Mass.) had a productive day, particularly in the high jump with a leap of 6-4 for 3^rd place. Harmon also finished 6^th in the long jump (6.16M) and 8^th in the triple jump. Head coach Al Halper commented, "Markiesh started the day off on fire in the long jump missing two monster jumps when he fouled on the board and having to settle for the 6.16m jump instead. But he made up for it in the high jump with his 6-4 leap, something he has been after since the start of the season. He gets stronger every week." 

Teammate freshman Edward Boamah (Worcester, Mass.), jumped for the first time this season leaping 6.29m for 5^th overall.   In the triple jump, sophomore Ryan Connolly (Braintree, Mass.) was fifth, freshman Momodou Kabareh (Worcester, Mass.) was sixth and Harmon also tripled to take eighth.

Pole vaulters Scott Page (Baldwinville, Mass.) and Brett Robinson (Westborough, Mass.) continued to stay atop the MASCAC pole vault rankings finishing 4^th and 5^th respectively, each with vaults of 3.95m and places based on misses.

In the running events, a number of highlights also occurred.  In the 60m dash, as expected, senior Jared Barros (Taunton, Mass.) and freshmen Jalil Gibson (Lynn, Mass.) made the finals finishing 2^nd and 6^th respectively. In addition, freshman Thomas Anderson (Auburn, Mass.) moved into the top twenty list for the championships next week running 7.27 in the trials for ninth overall. In the 200m, Kabareh also ran his way into the top twenty in that event for next week's championships with a time of 23.53 and 9^th overall.

In the mid sprints and distances, junior Marques Johnson (W. Hartford, Conn.) ran 53.22 for 12^th place and junior Jeffrey Davis (Old Lyme, Conn.) finished 7^th in the 600m with a time of 1:28.73 despite the interference of a jumper who was in his lane near the jumping pit.  Marc George (Framingham, Mass.) finished third in the 800m with a time of 2:01.97 while the Lancers took three places in the 1000m with junior Devin Luce (Milford, Mass.) winning the event in a time of 2:40.94, sophomore Michael Ricci (Peabody, Mass.) in third with a time of 2:42.76, and freshman Richard Custodio (Wakefield, Mass.) running his second race of the day in 2:50.63 for 8^th place overall. Custodio also finished 10^th in the mile run earlier in the meet.

In the 3k race, senior Will Whearty (Walpole, Mass.) had a PR in the race running a 9:37.91 while teammate sophomore Carlos Nieves (Clinton, Mass.) ran his second 3K PR in several weeks dropping his time to 9:42.52, almost thirty seconds in the two races.  Stated Halper about the two 3k runners, "Will and Carlos have done a tremendous job over the season this year. Today, Will set his mind to run well and made the conscious effort to do so, something I have tried to instill in all my athletes. Carlos followed Will from the start and was right there throughout. These two guys have a great work ethic and listen well to instructions. They pay attention to the little things and get the job done. The team as a whole can learn a lot from watching Will and Carlos compete. It would be great to see their success rub off on others."

Next weekend the Lancers will travel to the University of Southern for the MASCAC/ Alliance Conferences Championships seeking to win a title for this indoor season.