ALFRED, NY — Seth Spicer (Corning, NY/Corning-Painted Post), a junior on the Alfred University men's track and field team, has qualified to compete in the decathlon at next weekend's NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship meet.
                
The NCAA Outdoor Championships, hosted by the University of Mount Union, will be held Thursday-Saturday, May 25-27, at the Spire Institute in Geneva, OH.
                
Decathletes who rank in the top 20 nationwide qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships; Spicer ranks seventh in the nation in the decathlon with the school-record 6,471 points he scored at Kutztown (PA) State University's Mondschein Multi April 13-14.
                
Spicer is seeking to add outdoor All-American honors (top eight) to those he earned when he placed fourth in the heptathlon at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships March 10-11 in Naperville, IL. If he does, Spicer will become Alfred University's first outdoor track and field All-American since 1995, when AU Hall of Famer Glenn Clinton took second in the 110-meter hurdles.
                
Spicer is also looking to become the first AU athlete since 1995 to earn indoor and outdoor track and field All-American honors in the same season. That year, Clinton earned indoor honors in the 55-meter hurdles (third place) and outdoor honors in the 110-meter hurdles (second). Clinton is Alfred University's lone NCAA track and field champion, winning a title in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1994 Outdoor Championships.
                
The top-ranked decathlete for next weekend's Outdoor Championships is Cortland's Jack Flood (7,021 points). Others ranked ahead of Spicer are Cortland's Connor Christopherson (second, 6,831 points); Andrew Bartnett of Johns Hopkins (third, 6,625 points); Jeremy Lee of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (fourth, 6,560, points); Tobias Muellers of Williams (fifth, 6,547 points); and North Park's Rasmus Elfgaard (sixth, 6,484 points).
                
Flood won the indoor heptathlon at the Indoor Championships. Bartnett was second, and Christopherson was third. Lee finished sixth, Muellers eighth, and Elfgaard 14^th.
                
The decathlon will be held over the first two days (Thursday and Friday, May 25 and 26) of the NCAA meet. Thursday's events include the 100-meter dash (10 a.m.), long jump (11:15 a.m.), shot put (12:45 p.m.), high jump (2:15 p.m.), and 400-meter dash (4 p.m.). Friday's events include the 110-meter hurdles (10:30 a.m.), discus (11:20 a.m.), pole vault (12:34 p.m.), javelin (4:05 p.m.), and 1,500-meter run (5:10 p.m.).