#25 Men's Track Posts Top 10 Finish At Division III New England Championships

Cambridge, MA --- Junior Terrence Gibson (Rockland, MA) shattered two school, meet and facility records with top finishes as he helped lead the Worcester State men's indoor track and field team at the Division III New England Championships hosted by MIT.

With 40 team points, the Lancers placed eighth overall while the top five included MIT (138), Tufts (94), Bates (59), Williams (58) and Southern Maine (50).

Gibson tied for the best time in Division III in the 60 meters (6.80) while he bettered his own 60 meter hurdle split (8.02), which is currently leading the country. He became the first double winner at the Division III New England Championships since WSU Hall of Famer Stanley Egbor accomplished the feat in 2001 in the 55 meters and the 200.

Paced by Gibson running the third leg, the 4x400 relay of senior Ramses Rafael (Lawrence, MA) leading off, senior Todd Paquin (Pelham, NH) second and junior Stephen Gannon (Mansfield, MA) at anchor, the squad timed second overall with the 22nd-best time nationally (3:22.37).

Junior Jason Sliwoski (Leicester, MA) also broke his school record in the heptathlon with 4,670 points for All-New England accolades in third place.  After putting up the fifth-best point total on the first day, he tied for second in the pole vault (12-11.50/3.95m), tied for third in the 60 meter hurdles and a new personal best (8.82) and was among the top 10 in the 1,000 (2:57.40).

Sliwoski was just 126 points off the top finisher and he is currently 23rd on the national list - 625 points off of the Division III leader and 157 points away from 12th and stamping his ticket to the Indoor Championships.

Third-year Duy Truong (Worcester, MA/Doherty) earned All-New England accolades in two events with eighth both the long jump (21-5.25/6.53 meters) and 60 meter hurdles (8.65).

In the field, senior Andrew Johnson (Thompson, CT) tied for sixth in the high jump (6-2/1.88m) and junior Matthew Begley (E. Bridgewater, MA) was seventh in the shot put (47-4.25/14.43m) with an ECAC Division III New England qualifier. The pair both were honored with All-New England certificates.

Begley also added 12th in the weight throw (47-3/14.40m) while junior Robert White (Ludlow, MA) wasn't too far behind in 18th (44-9.75).

Other strong performances include Paquin in the long jump (11th - 21-0/6.40m), junior David Germain (Malden, MA) in the high jump (T10th - 6-2/1.88m) and freshman Sam Weeks (Methuen, MA) in the shot put (13th - 43-9/13.3m).

The sprinters were propelled by Gannon who was just out of the running for All-New England accolades with ninth in the 200 (23.11) and freshman Jared Barros (Taunton, MA) who timed 12th (23.21). Paquin was also 13th in the 60 (7.17) and Barros were tied for 16th (7.20).

In addition to his efforts in short sprint events, Barros posted the third-lowest 200 time for a first-year student-athlete and the fourth-best 60 split.

The sprints group was rounded out by freshman Charles Newman (Westfield, MA), Truong and junior Matthew Alley (Milford, MA) who placed 22nd (7.23), 24th (7.24) and 25th (7.25), respectively, as freshman Shane McKinley (Melrose, MA) was 20th in the 400 (52.18).

Next week select Lancers will compete at the Open New England Championships hosted by Boston University.

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