Jim Mullins     
UMass Dartmouth Athletic Department

Contact: 508 910-6930                                                 

 March 11, 2006

A Three-Time NCAA All-America, Garcia wins 55-meter national championship
at NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships

Northfield, MN -  UMass Dartmouth’s Jon Garcia (Stoneham, MA) captured the 55-meter NCAA Division III national championship and All-America honors for a third time in his career by posting a national-best time of 7.45 seconds in the 55-meter finals at Saturday’s NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Garcia edged Marcus Malgrave of the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, who took second in 7.47 seconds.  Garcia’s winning team once again breaks his UMass Dartmouth record, it broke the Tostrud Center record at St. Olaf’s College, and finished the 2005-06 indoor track season as the fastest 55-meter time in NCAA Division III.

In the national championship final on Saturday, it was Garcia’s lean to the finish line after the fifth and final hurdle that give him the margin of victory.

“I came out of the blocks not as fast as I did in the trials,” said Garcia.  “I was sort of lazy after the first hurdle and after the second hurdle I felt like I had three people in front of me. After going over the third hurdle I was telling myself that I didn’t want to lose the race.  I was real fast over the fourth hurdle and took the lead.  The fifth hurdle was my fastest, allowing me to catch the others. From there, I just gave it a lean to the finish.”

Garcia advanced to the 55-meter finals yesterday afternoon with a first-place finish his preliminary heat with a then personal best time of 7.48 seconds.  Garcia was seeded second in the 55-meter hurdle finals, one one-hundreth of a second behind Walgrave, who won his heat in 7.47 seconds creating the finals’ matchup.

“At the beginning of the season I was getting some rehab for me knee,” said Garcia. “But by the middle of the season I knew I was going back to nationals, but I didn’t know how well I would do. When I got that 7.48 a few weeks agao, that gave me a boost and I figured I’d be able to do well.”

Garcia’s third Division III All-American honor caps another successful winter indoor track season for the UMass Dartmouth junior.  At the Open New England Championships last month, he placed fifth in the 55-meter hurdles in 7.48 seconds, competing against a field of intercollegiate hurdlers from NCAA Division I, II and III institutions.  His time not only set a UMass Dartmouth record, but gave Garcia the best time in the 55-meter hurdles heading into the Division III National Championship meet.

At the New England Division III championships one week after Open New Englands, Garcia successfully defended his New England 55-meter championship, winning the event for a second straight year with a time of 7.63 seconds.

A year ago at the NCAA Division III Indoor championships held at Illinois Wesleyan, Garcia placed seventh overall in the 55-meter hurdles to earn his first NCAA Division III All-America honors.  Garcia posted a time of 7.68 in that race.  Just a few months later during the 2005 Outdoor Track and Field season, Garcia placed sixth in the 2005 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field championships with a sixth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles.

Garcia’s national championship in the 55-meter hurdles is UMass Dartmouth’s first since Stephan Baptista captured the 1987 NCAA Division III national championship in the hammer.

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