Brookline, Mass., All-American earns 14th career Field Athlete of the Week honor after posting pair of NCAA Championship qualifying performances
EASTON, Mass. (December 10, 2012) – Stonehill College senior All-American Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High) has been named the Northeast-10 Conference's Field Athlete of the Week for men's indoor track and field for the second straight week by the league office on Monday.
Thomas, who has now earned NE-10 Field Athlete of the Week honors for the 14th time in his career after receiving the award each of the first two weeks of his senior season, led Stonehill to the team title at the Reggie Poyau Invitational, hosted by Brandeis University on Friday night. He posted his second-straight win in the high jump and hit the automatic qualifying standard for the NCAA Division II Championships in March as he cleared 7-feet, 1.5-inches. The height was the best in the country at the Division II level at the time and currently ranked second after Emporia State University senior Briar Ploude reached 7-2.50 on Saturday.
Thomas also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship in the 60-meter hurdles with a converted time of 8.20-seconds from his time of 7.67-seconds in the preliminary rounds that qualified him first for the final. He finished second in the final by just a hundredth of a second to junior teammate Xavier Dixon (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) with a time of 7.75-seconds. Thomas' converted time currently ranks ninth nationally.
Thomas, the 2011 NCAA Division II National Champion for the high jump, is a six-time All-American, earning the honors for indoor high jump three times, outdoor high jump twice, as well and one All-America performance in the 60-meter hurdles in 2011. The three-time U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) East Region Field Athlete of the Year has won four New England Championship over his career, with two indoor high jump titles, one outdoor championship and he is the first dual New England Champion in program history after winning both the outdoor high jump and 110-meter high hurdles titles his freshman year.
Thomas has earned 11 All-New England and 12 All-Northeast-10 Conference honors, six USTFCCCA All-Region and won eight Northeast-10 titles (five hurdles and three high jump). Thomas holds the school record in all five events he competes in at Stonehill. He cleared an indoor school record 7-feet, 2.25-inches at the 2010 New England Championships, which he matched at the 2012 New England Championships, and an outdoor record 7-1.5 at the U.S. Junior Nationals at Drake University during the summer following his freshman year.
Thomas ran the 110-meter hurdles in a record time of 14.31-seconds at the 2011 New England Outdoor Championships. He also holds the 55-meter hurdles record of 7.45-seconds set at the 2010 New England Championships and the 60-meter hurdles mark of 8.07-seconds at the 2012 New England Championships.
Stonehill is off until Saturday, January 19, when it competes at the URI Sorlien Invitational, hosted by the University of Rhode Island, at Mackal Fieldhouse in Kingston, R.I.
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