George Breaks Worcester State 600M Record at Springfield’s Maroon & White Classic

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Worcester State University's Marc George (Framingham, Mass.) broke a Worcester State University school record on Saturday in a competitive eight-team, non-scoring meet hosted by Springfield College.

George ran the 600m in 1:23.21 to break the record of 1:23.96 set by Robert Stahelski in 2011, and qualified for All New England's in the event, as he already qualified for Division III New England's last weekend. Marc also anchored the 4x400m relay (Marques Johnson, Christian Cedullo, Edward Boamah, George)  to run 3:30.81 and finish third in the event. Both Boamah, a freshman and Cedullo, a sophomore competed in the open 400m race, With Boamah finishing 3^rd with a time of 52.47 and Cedullo running 53.54 to finish in 10^th.

Freshman Jalil Gibson (Lynn, Mass.) ran his second PR in as many weeks finishing in 7.11 for the 60m race to take second place overall. His time puts him in 12^th place in the Division III New England rankings. In addition, the freshman trio of Manasseh Konadu (7.36), Thomas Anderson (7.36), and Momodou Kabareh (7.42) all had solid races though not making the final. Gibson came back in the 200 to run 23.50 for 4^th overall.  Kabarah and Anderson also ran well in the 200m to finish 9^th and 10^th respectively.

In addition to George's record in the 600m, junior Jeffrey Davis (Old Lyme, Conn.) finished 9^th in 1:28.60 for a PR in the event. Sophomore Joseph Grider (Hopedale, Mass.) raced in the 800 in a strategically run time of 2:06.01 for a 5^th place finish in that event. The premier distance race for the Lancers came in the mile run where junior Devin Luce (Milford, Mass.) ran 4:33.19 for a fourth place finish overall and his best time ever on a flat track. He is presently ranked second in the conference with that time.

In the field events, the Lancers were able to get a number of stellar performances.  As usual, the throws squad had a strong day. Team captain and senior Sam Weeks (Methuen, Mass.) finished with a first place in the shot put tossing the ball 15.73/ 51-7.25 for the win and also finished third in the 35lb weight throw with a 16.48m/54-1 for another season PR. The Lancers dominated the shot put with five of the top nine places overall.  Also doing well were Eddy Acuna (4^th-14.33m) Marcus Vieira (5^th-13.42m), Taylor Clark ( 7^th-13.01m), and Jacob Roumanos ( 9^th-12.90m).  Following Weeks in the weight throw were Vieira (4th -16.22m) and Anthony Christo (7^th-14.96m).Both Vieira and Christo qualified for Division III New England's in the shot put.

In the vertical events, Sophomore Scott Page(Baldwinville, Mass.) and senior Brett Robinson (Westborough, Mass.) had season PRs and indoor bests in the pole vault where they were 3^rd and 4^th with vaults of 4.25m/13-11.25 and 3.95m/12-11.50 respectively.  In the high jump, Markiesh Harmon (Leominster, Mass.) took fifth with a 6-2 jump and freshman CJ Hernandez (Lynn, Mass.) made his first collegiate competition with a 6-jump for 7^th place overall.

In the horizontal jumps, Harmon took home a 2^nd place finish in the long jump (6.19m) and Kabareh took 4^th( 5.87)  Kabarah also took home a 3^rd place in the triple jump with a leap of 12.11m while teammate, sophomore Ryan Connolly (Braintree, Mass.), "bested" Kabareh with a distance of 12.20m to finish 2^nd overall.

Head coach Al Halper commented on the day with excitement. Halper stated, "We had a well-balanced performance day today. We got solid efforts from all areas of our team.  Last week we shook off the "cobwebs" from the holiday and intersession break. Now we have to be consistent with our day to day workout regimen as we work towards the championship season soon to be upon us.  We have a lot of talent and also some solid depth.  We saw a good deal of it today and the next few weeks can only bring more satisfying efforts throughout the team in a number of events.  The future continues to shine bright before us."

Next week on Saturday, January 28, 2017, the Lancers will compete at the Tufts Stampede Invitational while a selected group will attend the BU "John Thomas Terrier Classic" with the Distance Medley Relay on Friday evening, and the remainder of the meet on Saturday, January 28, 2017.