#18 Men's Track Impresses With Highest Ever Finish At ECAC Championships

Men's Indoor Track Slotted Fourth In USTFCCCA New England Regional Rankings - Team Rankings | Individual Rankings

Dorchester, MA --- Highlighted by the outstanding efforts of junior Duy Truong (Worcester, MA/Doherty) and classmate Terrence Gibson (Rockland, MA), the 18th ranked Worcester State men's  indoor track and field team tied for third place at the ECAC Division III Championships this afternoon at the Reggie Lewis Center.

One year after being just a single point away from equaling the school mark at the ECACs, the Lancers tallied 41 team points for a new school record at the regional meet that includes the best regional competition from New England, New York and several Mid-Atlantic states.

Bates won the meet with 47 points followed by Widener (42) as Oneonta State and the Lancers both took home the third-place trophy. The previous best for the Blue and Gold was when the 1999-00 squad tallied 26 points for a finish of seventh overall. 

Gibson timed second in the 60 meter hurdles (8.13) and fourth in the 60 meters (6.93) while Truong registered sixth in the 60 meter hurdles (8.49) and sixth in the long jump (21-7.50/6.59m) as the pair collected 19 points individually.

With Truong running lead-off and Gibson as the anchor, the pair helped lead the 4x200 meter relay team to second overall (1:29.90) – just 0.75 of a second off successfully defending last year's crown. The other two legs included senior Todd Paquin (Pelham, NH) second and junior Stephen Gannon (Mansfield, MA) who went third.

The 4x400 meter relay also captured All-ECAC certificates with fifth place (3:21.24). Freshman Jared Barros (Taunton, MA) ran first followed by, Paquin, senior Ramses Rafael (Lawrence, MA) and Gannon.

For their respective efforts, Gibson was honored as the Co-MASCAC Track Athlete of the Week while Barros, who timed a 50.08 leadoff leg in the 4x400, was the MASCAC Rookie of the Week.

Other All-ECAC performances included senior Andrew Johnson (Thompson, CT) who cleared fifth in the high jump (6-6/1.98m) as Gannon also added eighth in the 400 (50.07).

In the heptathlon, junior Jason Sliwoski (Leicester, MA) captured All-ECAC honors for the second-straight year, netting 4,533 points for fourth overall.

Sliwoski had the second-best vault (13-3.50/4.05m) and tied for the fourth-best shot put (38-7/11.76m) while his 1,000 (3:02.15), long jump (20-5.25/6.23m), high jump (5-8.75/1.75m), 60 meter hurdles time (9.11) and 60 split (7.47) were all inside the top eight.

Paquin and Truong were also 11th (7.06) and 13th (7.07), respectively in the 60 meters. Paquin's 60 split marked a personal-best time as Truong's split of 8.31 in the trials of the 60 meter hurdles marked a new collegiate high that is among the top 30 nationally.

Other solid marks in the field included junior Matthew Begley (E. Bridgewater, MA) who tossed marked up 24th in the shot put (45-5.25/13.85m), third-year David Germain (Malden, MA) cleared 22nd in the high jump (6-2/1.88m).

Freshman Charles Newman (Westfield, MA) timed 42nd in the 200 (23.30) to round out the competitors for the Blue and Gold.