Benjamin Fazio Qualifies for NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship

2016 Mar 8

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's (RPI) Benjamin Fazio of East Greenwich has earned the opportunity to compete for an NCAA national championship, having qualified for the 2016 NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Competition begins on Friday morning and concludes on Saturday evening at the Charles Benson Bear '39 Recreation and Athletic Center in Grinnell, Iowa, with Grinnell College serving as the official host.

A junior, Fazio (East Greenwich HS) is making his first NCAA Indoor Championship appearance, though he has competed in two national cross country events. He enters Friday afternoon's mile preliminaries (1:30pm) seeded 10th of 15 individuals with a time of 4:11.25. He established that pace, which is a school record, at the Dartmouth College Indoor Classic in early February. He out-kicked 29 other runners, including several from Division I programs, in setting a new school standard by seven seconds. The men's mile final is Saturday at 1:30pm.