FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                   May 28, 2005

UMass Dartmouth’s Bruce Zapasnik, Jon Garcia
are Div. III All-Americans at national meet

(Waverly,IA) – Two members of the UMass Dartmouth outdoor track and field team earned All-America honors at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships held Saturday at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.

Coming off impressive performances against competitive fields at the recent Open New England Championships and last Saturday’s ECAC Championships, Bruce Zapasnik (Rehoboth, MA) capped his season with a second-place finish in the men’s javelin finals.  Zapasnik took second with a throw of 205-1 (62.67 meters).  Zapasnik had qualified for the national javelin finals with a similar throw of 205-1 (62.51) to place first in his flight and qualify for the finals.

For the second time this season, Jon Garcia (Stoneham, MA)earned Division III All-America status.  Garcia’s most recent honors came after a sixth-place finish in the men’s 110-meter hurdles at the Division III nationals on Saturday.  Garcia placed sixth overall with a time of :14.58, part of a group of seven runners who bettered the stadium record. Garcia ran a :14.69 to finish second in his heat and advance to the national finals.

Earlier this year, Garcia earned Division III All-America status during the indoor track and field season, placing seventh in the national 55 meter hurdle championships held in Bloomington, Indiana.

Kelly Fitts (Fairhaven, MA) placed 7^th in her heat of the women’s javelin with a throw of 119-6 (36.42 meters) but did not advance to the national finals.

Zapasnik finished second in both the ECAC Division III Championships last Saturday and the Open New England Championships two weeks ago, Zapasnik was ranked fifth overall in the javelin at 61.14 meters (201-5) heading into the nationals.

After also placing second at the ECAC Division III meet last Saturday and fourth at the Open New Englands, Garcia entered the national finals of the 110-meter hurdles ranked eighth overall with a qualifying time of :14.55.  Garcia posted his season-best time in the ECAC preliminary round last Thursday.

Fitts was coming off a fourth-place finish in the javelin at the ECAC Division III meet and was ranked 13th overall with a throw of 136-10. Fitts placed seventh in the women's javelin at the Open New Englands two weeks ago with a throw of 126-04.