Guarino wins NCAA D-III indoor mile
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Track & Field
GREENCASTLE, Ind. -- Fredonia State junior Nick Guarino (Bergen/Byron-Bergen) romped to victory Saturday in the men's mile run at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field championships at DePauw University.
 Junior Nick Guarino (right) holds his award following the national title he won at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field championships this past March. He is joined by SUNY Fredonia Assistant Coach Jeffrey Beck. |
Guarino hit the tape in 4:09.99, ahead of Amherst College junior Will Yochum by 1.32 seconds. Allegheny College senior Tony Dipre was third in 4:11.92.
"Being a national champion feels awesome, just awesome," Guarino said. "The goal is to make nationals and once I did that then become an all-American."
"I wanted to go out and hang with the leaders and conserve energy," he said. "I had confidence I could outkick them in the end. I knew my body could hang with any pace anyone dished out. I knew I could outkick anybody at the end."
Guarino became the sixth Fredonia State male athlete to win an NCAA individual track and field championship, and the first since Trevor Hitchcock won the 35-pound weight throw at the 1994 indoor meet.
Other Fredonia State men to win national titles, the year they competed, and the events they won, are: Bernie Prabucki (5,000 meters; 1982), Kym Orr (indoor high jump; 1985), Pat Corbett (indoor long jump; 1986), Steve Hoyser (indoor pole vault; 1987).
Eric Springer is the last Fredonia State male athlete to earn All-American status (1999).
It was also the second straight NCAA indoor meet that Fredonia State has claimed an individual title. At the 2009 indoor meet, then-senior Julia Hopson claimed the women's 20-pound weight throw championship.
Guarino came into the NCAA meet as the fastest miler in Division III this winter, a 4:09.10 on Boston University's banked track on Feb. 13. He ran a preliminary time of 4:12.78 on Friday, the second fastest time of the day.
On Thursday, he received a plaque from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as its 2010 Atlantic Regional Indoor Male Track Athlete of the Year.