Senior All-American recognized after capturing pair of NE-10 individual titles to lead Stonehill to first NE-10 Indoor Championship
EASTON, Mass. (February 19, 2013) – Stonehill College senior All-American Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High) has been named to the NCAA Division II weekly honor roll for the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
Thomas, who earns the national honors for the first time in the program's first year, led Stonehill, ranked 20th in the latest USTFCCCA Division II Championship ratings, to its first Northeast-10 Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship on Saturday night with a pair of individual titles. He won the NE-10 indoor hurdles championship for the fourth-straight year and established an NE-10 Championships and school-record with his time of 7.98-seconds in the 60-meter hurdles final after qualifying first with a time of 8.21-seconds in the prelims. Thomas then added his second NE-10 indoor high jump title with a height of 7-feet, 2.25-inches and then ran the anchor leg on the Skyhawks 4x400-meter relay team that placed fourth in 3:22.34 with a 48.8-second split.
Thomas, who already ranks second in Division II with his program-record high jump of 7-feet, 3-inches set at the Joe Donahue Indoor Collegiate Games in January, improved on his standings in the 60-meter hurdles to No. 8 nationally with his school-record time on Saturday. His 400-meter split in the 4x400-meter relay would have bested the school record for that event and also provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships next month in Birmingham, Ala.
In addition to winning the high jump all six times he has competed this winter, Thomas has placed first in the hurdles three of the four times he has competed in the event, with a second place showing the remaining time. He has also competed with Stonehill's 4x400-meter relay in three meets, helping the squad to a third place showing at the URI Sorlien Invitational (3:28.87) on January 19.
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 Championships 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 14 All-Northeast-10 Conference honors, six USTFCCCA All-Region and won ten Northeast-10 titles (six hurdles and four high jump). Thomas holds the school record in all five events he competes in at Stonehill. In addition to his two indoor records set this season, he cleared an outdoor high jump 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 and also holds the 55-meter hurdles record of 7.45-seconds set at the 2010 New England Indoor Championships.
Thomas and Stonehill's other New England qualifiers will compete at the 2013 New England Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Boston University, at the BU Track & Tennis Center on Friday and Saturday.
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