Junior All-American Corey Thomas makes his third straight appearance in the NCAA Outdoor Championships high jump competition.

Thomas and Staley to compete in high jump on Friday
Gelcius makes NCAA Championships debut in javelin on Saturday

PUEBLO, Colo. (May 24, 2012) – Three members of the Stonehill College men's track and field team are set to compete at the 2012 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Colorado State University-Pueblo, at Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl over the next two days.

Junior All-American Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High) and freshman Nicholas Staley (Medway, Mass./BC High) have both qualified for the high jump, while junior John Gelcius (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) has earned a spot in the javelin championship. It marks the third-straight year Thomas will compete at the outdoor championships, while Staley and Gelcius are making their nationals debut. 

Live video coverage of the championships will be provided via www.ncaa.com, with links available on www.stonehillskyhawks.com through the men's track and field schedule and through the video tab at the top of the page. Live results are also available and fans can also download the official championships game program.

Thomas and Staley will compete in the high jump championship on Friday starting at 5:30 p.m. (EDT), while Gelcius will compete in the javelin championship on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. (EDT). The three field athletes marks the most in program history after Thomas was the lone athlete to ever qualify nationally in previous seasons.

Freshman Nicholas Staley will also compete in the high jump at the NCAA Championships.

Thomas, making his third outdoor championships appearance, will be competing in the high jump at the NCAA Championships for the sixth time in his career. The 2011 NCAA Division II indoor high jump national champion enters this championship tied for tenth nationally with a season-best jump of 6-feet, 11.75-inches, when he captured his second-straight Northeast-10 Conference outdoor championship for the event. Thomas has earned All-America honors at each of his previous two visits to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, placing third as a freshman (7-1) and sixth during his sophomore season (6-10.75).

Thomas is a six-time All-American in the high jump overall, including the indoor season, and has earned seven All-America honors in all by adding a fifth place finish in the 60-meter high hurdles at the 2011 Indoor Championships. He has earned six U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-East Region honors for the high jump and 12 overall, including indoor and outdoor hurdles. Thomas earned All-New England honors in the high jump for the sixth time two weeks ago with his third place showing at the New England Championships to help Stonehill to a program-best third place team finish.

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 that he matched with his winning performance at the 2012 New England Indoor 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. 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 Indoor Championships.

Junior John Gelcius is the first javelin thrower in program history to reach the NCAA Championships.

Staley is making his first appearance at the NCAA Championships with Stonehill having two high jumpers qualify for the first time in program history. He is also tied for tenth nationally in the event with his leap of 6-feet, 11.75-inches in a second place showing at the NE-10 Championships. Staley, who earned NE-10 Rookie of the Week honors nine times during his freshman season, just missed the cut for the indoor high jump, finishing ranked 17th nationally at 6-10.25.

Staley earned All-Northeast-10 and All-New England honors this spring, marking his second All-New England performance overall. In addition to placing second to Thomas at the NE-10 Outdoor Championships, he finished ahead of him with a second place showing at the New England Outdoor Championships two weeks ago (6-8.75) and also earned indoor All-New England honors with a fourth place showing (6-8.25). Staley has also earned USTFCCCA All-East Region honors for both indoor and outdoor high jump this year.

Gelcius earns his first trip to the NCAA Championships with his school-record shattering throw of 204-feet, 8-inches, to place third overall at the New England Championships two weekends ago. He broke his previous school record of 197-7 set at the UConn Huskies Invitational on March 31 and enters the NCAA Championships ranked 16th nationally. The third place finish at New England's marked his first All-New England performance and he also captured his first NE-10 championship for the event the week before with a distance of 192-1 to earn All-NE-10 honors for the third-straight year.

Gelcius also won the javelin competition at the Skyhawk Invitational on April 14 (186-8) and he placed second at the UConn Huskies Invitational. He is a two-time USTFCCCA All-East Region performer in the javelin with his honors this season.

Stonehill, ranked third in the most recent USTFCCCA Division II East Regional ratings index, placed second at the NE-10 Outdoor Championships for the second-straight year this spring to go with its program-best third place showing at the New England Championships.

Stonehill's three qualifiers took in some of the scenery in Pueblo on Thursday.