Najem sets school record in the 800 at New England Championships on Friday night

            BOSTON, MASS 2/27/09 - Senior Peter Najem (Derry, N.H.) raced to a school record and a NCAA Championship provisional qualifying time in his heat of the 800-meter race at the New England Track and Field Championship at Boston University on Friday night.  Najem won his heat in a time of 1:52.95 and will move on to Saturday's final.

            In other races, senior Jason Garrity (Topsfield, Mass.) placed third in the 1,000 with a time of 2:31.15 and junior Jared Samual (Londonderry, N.H.) finished sixth in the 5,000 (14:51.11).

            Keene State's distance medley relay team of sophomores Corey Loonan (Sandwich, Mass.), Craig MacPherson (Derry, N.H.), Eric MacKnight (Newtown, Conn.), and freshman Elias Grijalva placed fifth with a time of 10:09.92.

            The Owls are 11th after the first day of competition with seven points.