Curit and Dixon Qualify for Saturday Finals at NCAA Track & Field Championships


Junior Maria Curit qualified for tomorrow's 800-meter final with her second place finish in heat three today. (PHOTO BY Robert Mathews)

Curit places second in her heat to qualify for 800-meter final
Dixon advances to tomorrow's 110-meter hurdles final
 

ALLENDALE, Mich. (May 23, 2014) – Stonehill College senior Xavier Dixon (New Bedford, Massachusetts/New Bedford) and junior Maria Curit (Biddeford, Maine/Biddeford) will both compete on finals day at the 2014 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Grand Valley State University and the West Michigan Sports Commission, following their qualifying efforts in their respective events on day two of the Championships at GVSU Track & Field Complex this evening.

Curit qualified first for Stonehill by way of her second place finish in the third of three heats in the 800-meter run prelims with a time of 2-minutes, 9.05-seconds. Her qualifying time is seventh-fastest among the 22 entries in the event today. Concord (N.C.) University senior Shawnee Carnett won the third heat in 2:07.66, while Seattle Pacific University senior McKayla Fricker posted the top qualifying time of 2:07.52 to win heat one.


Senior Xavier Dixon also qualified for the finals in the 110-meter high hurdles tomorrow. (PHOTO BY Robert Mathews)

Curit ran up front from start to finish in her heat. She was second after 200-meters and then dropped to third after 500. Curit fell to fourth as some runners started to make a move from the back with 200-meters to go, but finished strong to earn the second automatic qualifying spot in her heat. The top two finishers in each of the three heats, along with the next three fastest times advanced to tomorrow's 800-meter final at 7:05 p.m. The top eight finishers will earn All-America honors for the event.

Dixon made it a perfect 2-for-2 among Stonehill competitors in today's prelims to qualify for tomorrow's finals with his performance in the 110-meter high hurdles. He finished third in the third and final preliminary heat with a time of 14.421-seconds, earning the final qualification spot by just 0.009-seconds. Lenoir-Rhyne University sophomore Kevin Baxter won the heat in 14.15-seconds, while Tiffin University senior Wilner Marcelin placed second in 14.31-seconds to claim the heat's two automatic qualification spots. Dixon earned his spot in tomorrow night's final, which will be run at 5:55 p.m., by posting one of the three fastest remaining times after the top two finishers in each of the three qualifying heats, edging Bellarmine University senior Seth Sigler (14.430) for the final spot. Ashland University junior Elijha Owens posted the top qualifying time of 13.95-seconds to win the first heat and post the only sub-14 second time of the day. The top eight in the final will also earn All-America honors tomorrow evening.

Senior Chelsea Bishop (Suffield, Connecticut/Suffield) opened Stonehill's stay at the NCAA Championships with her 12th place finish in the 10,000-meter run on Thursday night with a school-record time of 35-minutes, 57.85-seconds.

Stonehill's 2013-14 athletic season will come to a close tomorrow night with Dixon and Curit's runs in their event finals. NCAA.com coverage starts at 5 p.m., with links also available via www.stonehillskyhawks.com.

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