Worcester State College Men’s Track and Field Highlights

Division III ECAC Championships – Day 2- 3/8/08

The Worcester State Men’s Track and Field Team had a successful weekend at the Division 3 ECAC Championships held at Harvard University.  Freshman Nate Starling set the tone in the 55m hurdle trials where he ran a 7.75 to provisionally qualify for the D3 NCAA National Championships to be held next week in Ohio. The time was a personal best and gave him a 9^th place finish overall in the event. He is presently ranked as the fifth best D3 freshman nationally in the event. Starling also gained the finals in the 55 meter dash. Running a 6.57 in the trials and a 6.64 in the finals, he finished 7^th place finish overall to put points on the board for the Lancers.  Teammate Mark Johnson also added to the point total with a 4^th place finish in the 200m dash. His time of 22.36 was a personal best in the indoor event.  Johnson also competed in the 400m running a time of 50.37, another personal indoor best to finish 10^th overall and a leap of 21’00.50” in the long jump for 15^th place in that competition. Distance ace, Forest Wilber reset his own 5000m record with a time of  15:19.62 to finish 13^th in the event. The 4 x 800m relay  (Chris Mancuso, Rob Lind, Forest Wilber, and Justin Snair), who broke a 37 year old record in last week’s All New England Meet, finished in 19^th place in the relay this week a slight bit off their goal for this meet. The team finished with 7 points in 35^th place of 58 schools that scored points while a number of other colleges did not score at all. With the indoor season complete, except for the possibility of Nate Starling attending nationals, the team looks forward to the outdoor season just around the corner.

Division 3 ECAC Championships – Day 1- 3/7/08

The Worcester State Men’s Track and Field team sent two athletes to the first day of the D3 ECAC Championships.  Both did the school proud with stellar performances in their events.  Freshman Nate Starling continued his outstanding championship season by posting a time of 7.75 in the 55m hurdles to finish 9^th overall in the event. More importantly, Starling’s time is a provisional qualifier for the NCAA D3 Indoor National Championships being held next weekend at Ohio Northern University.  In addition, just minutes later, he ran a 6.57 in the 55m dash to qualify for Saturday’s D3 ECAC final in that event. The time ties his best time for 55 meters. Junior Forest Wilber ran in the 5000m resetting his own school record in the event.  His time of 15:19.62 allowed him to finish 13^th overall, bettering his seed position going into the race. On Saturday, junior standout Mark Johnson will compete in the long jump, 400m and 200m.

Forest Wilber will return as part of the record setting 4 x 800m relay team as the relay attempts to break the 8 minute barrier in the event.  The team of juniors Chris Mancuso, Rob Lind, Wilber and senior Justin Snair will run in the seeded heat as they try to accomplish this milestone.