May 19, 2011

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Red-shirt sophomore Will Griffin (Columbia, Conn.) of the Marist men's track and field team found out that he had officially qualified for the NCAA Division 1 East Regional in the 10,000 meter run on Thursday afternoon as the declaration list was released by the NCAA. Griffin is the first NCAA Regional qualifier in Marist history.

In a process in which the top 48 declared runners and their times qualify, Griffin heads into the meet at Indiana University in Bloomington as the #23 seed with his time of 29:45.81.

He will compete on May 26 in the National Semifinal race, in which the top 12 finishers will advance to the National Finals at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa on June 8-11.

Griffin turned in his school record-breaking performance running against a tough field of competitors from across the nation at the 53rd annual Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) Relays in Walnut, California on April 14. He became the first Marist College track athlete in school history to break the 30-minute barrier for the 10,000-meter run with his time of 29:45.81.