Six Bears Compete at Tufts Final Qualifying Meet

MEDFORD, Mass. – Six members of the Bridgewater State University men's indoor track & field team competed on Saturday at the Tufts Final Qualifying Meet held at the Gantcher Center.

Freshman Exondus Barnes (East Providence, R.I.) captured the meet title and tied his own school record in the high jump with a leap of six feet, 5.5 inches (1.97m). Barnes equaled his previous BSU indoor mark set last weekend at the Division III New England Championships.

Sophomore Matthew Lighten (Dalton, Mass.) placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.24 seconds, while classmate Jadin Bruneau (Taunton, Mass.) finished fourth in the event with a time of 23.36 seconds.

Junior Andrew Chen (Waltham, Mass.) tied for fifth in the high jump with a mark of six feet, 4.25 inches (1.94m).

Senior Joshua Higgins (Fitchburg, Mass.) posted a sixth-place finish in the 800-meter run with a season-best time of 1:53.84.

Sophomore Jacob DeAndrade (Taunton, Mass.) finished eighth in the 60-meter dash with a finals time of 8.22 seconds. DeAndrade posted a preliminary time of 7.01 seconds.

Lighten currently ranks second in all of Division III in the 200 (21.94), while Higgins is tied for 19th in the 800 (1:53.84) and DeAndrade is tied for 22nd in the 200 (22.19).

The NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field Championships which will take place on Friday March 13th and Saturday, March 14th at the JDL Fast Track in Greensboro, North Carolina. The top 20 student-athletes in individual events qualify for the national championship meet.

The official list of men's accepted entries for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships will be released on Sunday on ncaa.com.