By GERRY deSIMAS, JR.
Collinsville Press.com
CANTON, May 23 – Two former Canton High
athletes have qualified to compete at the NCAA Division III national championship meet in track
and field in Iowa on May 27-29.
Connecticut College freshman Michael LeDuc qualified to compete in the 3,000 meter steeplechase while Dickinson College senior Kim Powell qualified in the 10,000 meter race. They are the first track and field athletes from Canton to compete in the NCAA national championships since 1986.
Carneige Mellon senior Nate Bussiere just missed qualifying in the 1,500 meters. Bussiere surpassed the provisional qualifying time but too many athletes earned automatic bids and he didn’t make the cut.
LeDuc and Powell also surpassed provisional qualifying times, which places an athlete in a large pool of applicants. Selection to the national meet is determined by your time, national ranking and how many open spots are available in that respective event.
LeDuc is the only freshman in the field of 20 athletes and is ranked 17th in the country. Powell is ranked 14th in the nation in the 10,000 meters.
LeDuc won the 3,000 meter steeplechase at the recent ECAC Division III championship meet with a personal-best time of 9:13.48. LeDuc earned a spot on the All-NESCAC men’s track team for his solid performance in the steeplechase, taking third with a time of 9:24.40. He earned All-New England honors.
In the fall, he was named rookie of the year in men’s cross country by NESCAC, finishing fifth at the league championship meet. In the indoor track season, he earned All-New England honors in the 5,000 meters by taking third.
"Mike has continued the success he showed in cross country and the indoor season during outdoors, so it is no surprise that he earned All-NESCAC honors," said Jim Butler, Connecticut College’s cross country head coach and an assistant with the track program. "He has shown great range for us from the 1,500 up to 10,000 meters, but I think his best event will prove to be the steeple, and I am looking forward to some great results from Mike."
At Dickinson in Carlise, Pa., Powell ran a personal best time of 36:25.05 in the 10,000 meters (6.2 mile) race at the Centennial Conference championship meet, knocking 20 seconds off her personal best time and finished second. In the 5,000 meter race (3.1 miles), Powell again finished second with another personal best time of 17:39.62.
Bussiere finished second in the 1,500 meters at the University Athletic Association track and field championships and helped the Tartan 4x800 meter relay team finished second. Bussiere posted a provisional qualifying time for the NCAA Division III championships by taking third at the Gator Invitational in Meadville, Pa., in the 1,500 meters with a season-best time of 3:52.10.
The last Canton runner to compete in the NCAA Division III tournament was Kelly Rainey Kurcz in 1986 for UMass-Boston, where she was a four-time All-American runner.
LeDuc earns
All-American honors in steeplechase
By GERRY deSIMAS, JR.
Collinsville Press.com
CANTON, May 27 – Connecticut College freshman Mike LeDuc of Canton earned All-American honors by surging to a sixth place finish at the NCAA Division III national championships Friday night in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in Delaware, Ohio at Ohio Wesleyan University.
LeDuc knocked nearly 10 seconds off his personal best in the event, finishing the race in a school record time of 9:03.72. LeDuc ran in last place for the first 2-to-3 laps of the race but didn’t let the pack get too far away from him.
“We had planned at the fifth lap that he would start passing people,” said Jim Butler, Connecticut College’s cross county head coach and an assistant with the track and field squad. “Mike ran with the saavy of a much older runner. With about 600 meters to go, he moved into eighth place. He passed another guy with about 300 meters left and vaulted his way into sixth place with about 75 meters to go.”
Butler was impressed with LeDuc’s resilience and maturity to come through with such a strong effort at his first NCAA championship appearance.
LeDuc earned a spot in the NCAA championship event by winning the ECAC (Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference) title in the 3,000 steeplechase in 9:13.48 on May 19. He is believed to be the first Canton man to earn Division III All-American honors in track but he isn’t the first from Canton to each such recognition. Kelly Rainey Kurcz earned All-American honors running for Massachusetts-Boston in 1986 as part of the 4x100 meter relay team.
