MEDFORD, MASS 5/1/10 – Keene State's Peter Najem is headed back to the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships.  The senior from Derry, N.H. raced to an NCAA automatic qualifying time (3:51.56) with his first-place finish in the 1,500-meter race at the New England Division III Championships at Tufts University on Saturday.

            Najem, who qualified for the championships in the 800 last spring, but failed to make the finals, also won the 800 at Tufts with a time of 1:53.37.

            Junior Tim Pipp (New Ipswich, N.H.) placed third in the 5,000 race with a personal best time of 15:06.19.

            In field events, junior Bryan Kolacz (Brentwood, N.H.) won the hammer (187'-08”) and placed fourth in the discus (148'-02”).

            In team standings, the Owls finished seventh with 43 points. Williams won the team title with 159 points.

            Sophomores Paige Mills (Keene, N.H.) and Andrea Walsh (Bolton, Conn.) finished fifth (18:20.08) and sixth (18:30.07) in the women's 5,000. 

            Freshman Janel Haggerty (Guilford, Conn.) had the best performance by the KSC women in field events, a seventh place (5'-02.25”) finish in the high jump.

            Keene State competes next Friday-Saturday at the All-Division New England Championships at Northeastern.