Paquin, Gibson, 4x100 Meter Relay Earn Berths To NCAA Outdoor Championships
Worcester, MA --- Senior Todd Paquin and junior Terrence Gibson along with the rest of the members of the 4x100 meter relay have been chosen to compete in this week’s NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships as announced by the selection committee on Sunday morning
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Worcester, MA --- Senior Todd Paquin (Pelham, NH) and junior Terrence Gibson (Rockland, MA) along with the rest of the members of the 4x100 meter relay have been chosen to compete in this week's NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships as announced by the selection committee on Sunday morning
Paquin will go for the Lancers in the 100 meters and Gibson makes his second career appearance in the 110 meter hurdles were added to the field for finishing their outdoor campaigns among the top 20 times, distances, heights and point totals in each of their respective times.
The relay, which includes junior Duy Truong (Worcester, MA/Doherty), Paquin, junior Matthew Alley (Milford, MA) and Gibson at anchor, was taken out of the top 16 splits nationally. The meet will run from Thursday, May 22 through Saturday, May 24.
After not competing during the entire 2012-13 season due to a stress fracture in his foot, Paquin has bounced back and emerged as one of the best sprinters in region. As the only student-athlete from New England in the field of 20, he highlights a competitive 100 meter field that includes five who were in last year's final nine in the blocks.
Paquin hit his stride during the Division III New England Championships when he won the 100 meters with a time of 10.74, becoming the 13th individual Worcester State champion joining four-time outdoor winner and Lancer Hall of Famer Stanley Egbor.
Two weeks ago, he solidified his spot as the 18th seed at the NCAA meet with a second-place split at the Open New England Championships, just 0.01 off of the lead (10.67).
Paquin will run in the third heat in lane four of the 100 meters on Friday night at 7:45 PM EST and the final gun for the event goes off on Saturday at 3:25 PM EST.
Gibson, who claimed fourth place for All-American accolades in 2013 as a sophomore, returns to highlight a talented field of favorites as the fourth seed in the 110 meter hurdles.
At the top is senior Adam Scalesse (Longview, WA) of Coast Guard, who beat out Gibson at the Open New England Championships in a photo finish by seven thousands of a second for his best time of the campaign (14.25), a new school record and the fourth-fastest time nationally.
Other returners from the final heat last season include defending National Champion, sophomore Luke Campbell (Brunswick, MD) of Salisbury (seeded second), senior Ryan Lopez-Jordan (Beechwood, OH) of Marietta who finished third and returns as the third seed, junior Max Kittle (Algonquin, IL) of Anderson who took home sixth (seeded 15th) and sophomore Jake Alviene (E. Greenbush, NY) of Oneonta State, is seeded fifth.
Gibson and Cambell went head-to-head in the finals of the 60 meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Championships as the pair went first (7.75) and second (7.82), respectively, with the top two fastest times in event history. Lopez-Jordan was a distant third in the same event (8.02).
Sophomore Conor Murtagh (Walpole, MA) of Bridgewater State (ninth seed) and senior Jarret McKallagat (Atkinson, NH) of Bates also represent New England in the event which will start at 6:45 PM EST on Friday with the finals going off at 2:40 PM EST on Saturday.
Gibson is slated to hit the blocks in the fourth lane of the first heat.
The 16th seeded 4x100 meter relay is the first male Worcester State relay to compete at any National Track & Field Championship since 1975 when the mile relay, which included three WSU Hall of Famers, set the current standard in the event at Baldwin-Wallace.
The WSU Four first joined the national rankings with a school record time of 41.61 for first place at the Holy Cross Quad competition on April 22 before establishing a new split for the second-fastest time at the Open New England Championships two weeks ago of 41.56 to earn as the only New England relay team in the event at the National Outdoor meet.
Freshman Jared Barros (Taunton, MA) will serve as an alternate on the relay team, which will start their trial run at 5:45 PM EST on Thursday. Barros was one of five at the MASCAC/Alliance Championships to break the 11.00 barrier with a season-best fourth place time of 10.95.
The relay will line-up on the track at 5:45 PM EST in the second heat in lane 5.
2014 Men's NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship Accepted Entries