MEDFORD, Mass. – The Worcester State University men's track & field team took a 9^th place finish at the Division III New England Championships as they scored 27 points, all in the throwing events, Saturday at the Gantcher Center.

Worcester State University's senior Sam Weeks (Methuen, Mass.) mastered the throwing events, as he won both the weight throw and shot put (16.08m) to tally 20 points for the Lancers. Not only did he win both events, but he also broke a school record in the weight throw– previously marked at 17.93m by teammate Marcus Vieira (Peabody, Mass.) at last week's MASCAC Championships. Weeks recorded a monster-throw of 18.25m in the weight throw to top the record, and currently stands at 4^th place nationally in the event, while Vieira sits at 8^th.

"Regardless, the efforts by both of the guys are monumental," commented head coach Al Halper.  "To have two guys in position to make the national meet in the same event is outstanding.  If the rankings hold up over the next two weeks, the pair will get the opportunity to compete at the NCAA championships in March. In addition, Sam continued his domination of the number one D3NE ranking in the shot put, winning his second title of the day with a throw of 16.08m. In my opinion, he was the outstanding field athlete of the meet."

"When Sam gets focused he is unbeatable,"  said Halper.  "He and Marcus have been going back and forth all year. While he was happy for Marcus last week, Sam went after the record for himself this week. They push each other daily in practice and at meets."

Also scoring in the throw events were Vieira and Eddy Acuna (Newton, Mass.). Vieira captured 4^th place in the weight throw with a distance of 17.07m, while Acuna marked 7^th place in the shot put at 14.32m.

Worcester State's Scott Page (Baldwinville, Mass.) matched his PR in the pole vault at 4.25m to take 11^th place out of 18 competitors.

"Scott looked great today and tied his PR in the competition,"  stated Halper.   "His attempts at the next height were quite good. He is close to breaking through to a new PR soon. With his work ethic and focus, it will happen sooner than later."

Edward Boamah (Worcester, Mass.) came in 13^th in the long jump (6.19m).

 Worcester State's 4x400 Meter Relay team of Boamah, Christian Cedullo (Salem, Mass.), Momodou Kabareh (Worcester, Mass.), and Marc George (Framingham, Mass.) placed 12^th in a time of 3:29.86. The 4x800 Meter Relay team of Joseph Grider (Hopedale, Mass.), Jeffrey Davis (Old Lyme, Conn.), Michael Ricci (Peabody, Mass.), and Patrick Scheeler (Wakefield, Mass.) claimed 14^th place in a time of 8:17.48.

In the individual running events, freshman Jalil Gibson (Lynn, Mass.) came in 11^th place in the 60 Meter Dash, in a time of 7.16. George took 16^th place in the 600 Meter Run (1:28.06).

"Jalil's time was just off qualifying for the final though two others finished ahead of him with the same time by mere thousandths of a second," said Halper.  "Jalil ran his best race last week but ran the middle of the race this week a little flat. He came on strong at the end, but too late to run fast enough to get to the final."

"This week was a mixed result for us,"  commented Halper on everyone's  performances. However, despite that, as a team, we finished 9th overall and the first public university in the scoring. We wanted to score in the top ten overall and we did. Secondly we wanted try to come out on top among the public colleges in the competition and we accomplished that as well."

"We have been fortunate to reach many of our goals for the season this year,"  concluded Halper.  "While last week winning the conference was the overall most important goal for the team this season, it is nice to continue to see successes again this week."

Next weekend, those who have qualified, will travel to the Reggie Lewis Center for the All New England Championships.