BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Bridgewater State University senior Joshua Higgins and sophomore Matthew Lighten have earned All-America honors for the 2020 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field season. The All-American student-athletes were announced on Tuesday (May 19) by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Normal policies dictate that All-America honors are awarded to student-athletes who score any portion of a team point (top-eight in the final of an individual event or as a member of a top-eight placing relay event) at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships. In lieu of conduction of the national championship this season, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the USTFCCCA Executive Committee adopted the following criteria based on the selected participants for the national championships initially announced by the NCAA on Sunday, March 8th:

• All student-athletes declared and initially accepted into their individual event.
• Members of all relays who produced the performance that was declared and initially accepted into their event.

Lighten was seeded second in the 200-meter run at the national championship meet. The Dalton, Massachusetts product recorded his qualifying mark of 21.94 seconds at the MASCAC Championships on February 15th.

Higgins, who hails from Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was seeded 20th in the 800-meter run as he was set to make his third appearance at an NCAA Division III Track & Field Championship meet and second at the indoor championships. Higgins posted his qualifying time of 1:53.84 on March 7th at the Tufts Final Qualifying Meet.

A total of 675 athletes from 161 different institutions from across the country were honored on Tuesday by the USTFCCCA.

Complete List of USTFCCCA 2020 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field All-Americans (PDF)