SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A well-rounded group of Lancers assisted in marking a fourth place finish (out of 21 teams competing) for Worcester State at the 6th Annual Yellow Jacket Invitational, hosted by American International College on Saturday (Apr. 9).
"We had a solid day at the Yellow Jacket Invite at AIC with the competition being a number of strong D2 teams as well as teams from the Alliance and other D3 teams," stated head coach Al Halper.
Elijah Mawejje (Woburn, Mass.) won the men's high jump competition as he had a top height of 1.90m, ringing in 10 points towards the Blue and Golds' total. With his top finish, he qualified for Division III New England Championships.
"With the day starting out warmer, we had some improved sprint and hurdle times as well as in other events," commented Halper. "The performances included several Division III New England Qualifiers as well as a number of season and career personal records (PRs) throughout the team in all of the events."
Duy Truong (Worcester, Mass.) marked a third place finish in the 110 Meter Hurdles in 15.40, scoring six points for the team and qualifying for both Division III New England and ECAC Championships. He also scored three points for the Lancers as he placed sixth overall in the 100 Meter Dash in 11.24 seconds, qualifying for Division III New England Championships.
Sam Weeks (Methuen, Mass.) and Marcus Vieira (Peabody, Mass.) both scored in the men's shot put, as Weeks came in at second place (14.72m) and Vieira came in at sixth (13.49m). The throwing duo also placed in the discus throw, as Weeks marked another second place finish (44.20m) and Vieira finished fourth in the event (42.69m). Weeks made marks for both Division III New England and ECAC's in both events, while Vieira qualified for Division III New England's in both events. Vieira chipped in another point in the hammer throw, coming in at eighth place at 47.01m - also lengthy enough to qualify for Division III New England's.
The team of Truong, Christian Cedullo (Salem, Mass.), Ben Dussault (Assonet, Mass.), and Charles Newman (Westfield, Mass.) placed third out of 12 teams competing in the 4x100 Meter Relay in 42.77, adding in six points to the Lancers' total and qualifying for both Division III New England's and ECAC's. The Lancers also registered one point in the 4x400 Meter relay, as their A squad came in eighth place.
Cedullo came in at sixth place in the 400 Meter Hurdles, collecting three points for the Lancers and qualifying for Division III New England Championships.
Robert Davis (Acton, Mass.) logged an eighth place finish in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase, chipping in one point for the Lancers. Brett Robinson (Westborough, Mass.) and Scott Page (Baldwinville, Mass.) both tied at eighth place in the pole vault at 3.80m.
"With only a few weeks before the Conference Championships, today was a day on which to build," added Halper. "The work the past few weeks is beginning to pay off and the good performances today are certainly a mental boost for many athletes on the team. We still have many individual and team goals to achieve in the next few weeks."
Next weekend, the Lancers travel to Fitchburg State for their fourth meet of the outdoor season.