BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University sophomore Matthew Lighten (Dalton, Mass.) and senior Joshua Higgins (Fitchburg, Mass.) will be competing at the 2020 NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field Championships.
The national championship meet will be held on Friday, March 13th and Saturday, March 14th at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Guilford College and Visit Winston-Salem are co-hosting the two-day event.
A native of Dalton, Massachusetts, Lighten is seeded second in the 200-meter run. He recorded his qualifying mark of 21.94 seconds at the MASCAC Championships on February 15th.
Higgins is seeded 20th in the 800-meter run. The Fitchburg, Massachusetts product posted his qualifying time of 1:53.84 yesterday at the Tufts Final Qualifying Meet. Higgins holds the school indoor record in the 800 (1:53.00) which he set on March 3, 2018 at Tufts.
For each men's individual event contested, including the heptathlon, the top 20 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For each relay event contested, the top 12 declared relay teams, one per institution, were accepted into the competition.
The preliminary race of the 800-meter run will get underway on Friday afternoon at 4:35 PM, with the finals scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 3:50 PM. The preliminary race of the 200-meter dash is slated to take place on Friday afternoon at 5:05 PM, with the finals scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 4:10 PM.
Higgins is making his third appearance at an NCAA Division III Track & Field Championship meet and second at the indoor championships, while Lighten is making his NCAA debut. Higgins competed in the 800-meter run at the 2018 indoor and 2019 outdoor championships, as well as the 4x400-meter relay at the 2018 indoor championships.