MEDFORD, Mass. – The Worcester State University men's outdoor track & field team had a successful second week at the Tufts Snowflake Classic, as they scored 102.50 points to take third place out of 18 teams competing on Sunday, April 2.
"We had a number of good performances at Tufts, commented head coach Al Halper. "Moving the meet to Sunday certainly allowed us to take advantage of the nice weather."
It was no surprise that Worcester State University's throwers led the squad, as Sam Weeks (Methuen, Mass.) captured two wins in both the shot put (15.45m) and the discus throw (47.14m). Sophomore Marcus Vieira (Peabody, Mass.) captured the hammer throw win (48.24m) to qualify for Division III New England's, while Weeks already qualified in the previous contest. Weeks followed with second place in the hammer throw at 46.68m, while Vieira placed 4th in the discus (40.92m).
Also scoring in the throws were Elmer Acuna (Newton, Mass.), Alexander Mandragouras (Newbury, Mass.), and Anthony Christo (Peabody, Mass.). Acuna registered a 4th place finish in the shot put (14.18m), Mandragouras came in 5th in the discus throw (40.52m), and Christo placed 5th in the hammer throw 46.10m) – all reaching marks to qualify for Division III New England's.
Leading the Lancers in the sprinting events were Phillip Bynum (Peabody, Mass.), Jalil Gibson (Lynn, Mass.) and Momodou Kabareh (Worcester, Mass.) who all placed in their respective events. Bynum tagged third in the 100 Meter Dash (11.27), while Gibson and Kabareh placed in two sprint events. Gibson came in 6th in the 100 Meter Dash (11.45) and came in 7th in the 200 Meter Dash (23.21). Kabareh marked a 5th place finish in the 200 Meter Dash (23.14), and 8th in the 400 Meter Dash (51.18), qualifying for Division III New England's in the 400M.
"Momodou was the team workhorse scoring team points in four events and running some top level times in the process and a D3 New England qualifier in the 400m," commented Halper.
Worcester State's top middle distance runners of the day consisted of Jeffrey Davis (Old Lyme, Conn.), Devin Luce (Milford, Mass.), and Joseph Grider (Hopedale, Mass.). Davis came in 12th out of 62 contestants in the 800 Meter Run (2:02.03), while Luce and Grider came in 35th and 38th places, respectively, in the 1500 Meter run out of 82 participants.
Michael Ricci (Peabody, Mass.) scored five points for the Lancers in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase, recording a PR time of 10:08.68 to qualify for Division III New England's.
Pole vaulter, Brett Robinson (Westborough, Mass.) picked up four team points in the pole vault, as he came in 5th place with a finals distance of 3.80m.
Guiding the team in the jumps events was Markiesh Harmon (Leominster, Mass.) who came in 5th in the long jump (6.09m). CJ Hernandez (Lynn, Mass.) tied for 8th place in the high jump (1.83m), while Kabareh and Ryan Connolly (Braintree, Mass.) picked up 8th and 9th places, respectively, in the triple jump.
The Lancers grabbed 2nd place in the 4x100 Meter Relay (43.38), and 3rd place in the 4x400 Meter Relay (3:30.73).
"Despite doing well so far, we have had several key people missing the first couple of weeks," stated Halper. "This team has a wealth of talent and depth. We hope those two factors will help us realize our goal of an outdoor MASCAC title to go with the one we earned this past indoor season."
Next up, the Lancers travel to AIC for the Yellow Jacket Invitational on April 7-8.