Gambill, Skipper & Spicer Earn All-American Honors
Naperville, Ill. – Utica senior
Nicodemus Gambill and freshman
Clarence Skipper (Albany, NY/Guilderland) and Alfred junior
Seth Spicer all earned All-American honors on Saturday at the 2017 NCAA Division III Track & Field Indoor Championships hosted by North Central College. Gambill earned a fourth place finish in the 60 meter finals and a seventh place finish in the 200 meter dash, while Skipper placed eighth in the triple jump. Spicer finished fourth in the heptathlon.
Gambill earned All-American status in the men's 60 meter dash as he posted a time of 6.855 in the finals to earn fourth place. He also earned All-American in the 200 meter dash as he placed seventh in the finals with a time of 22.12. Gambill, who was making his fourth career appearance at nationals, is now a three-time All-American. He earned his first All-American nod last Spring after placing third in the 100 meter dash at outdoor nationals. Gambill is the first athlete in program-history to take home two All-American honors at a single national meet. Gambill advanced to Saturday's finals after an impressive performance in the prelims on Friday. He placed third overall (second in his heat) in the 60 meter dash prelims and broke his own school-record with a time of 6.82. He followed that up with an eighth place overall finish (second in his heat) in the 200 meter dash prelims with a time of 22.08.
Skipper earned eighth place in the triple jump with a distance of 14.21 meters to garner All-American status. Skipper is the first athlete in program-history, in their first appearance at nationals, to earn All-American honors. Skipper posted his top distance of 14.21 meters in his first jump of the event.
With his fourth-place finish, Spicer earns All-America designation. He is Alfred's first track and field All-American since 1995, when AU Hall of Famer Glenn Clinton earned All-America honors in the hurdles at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships. Clinton placed third in the 55-meter hurdles at the 1995 national indoor championships. His 4,969 points broke his own school record of 4,589 points, set at the NYS Championships Feb. 24 and 25 at Ithaca College
Spicer competed in three events on Saturday's second day of the heptathlon: the 60-meter hurdles (8.66 seconds, personal best); pole vault (3.90 meters); and 1,000-meter run (2:41.92, personal best).
On Friday, Spicer competed in the 60-meter dash (personal-best 7.41 seconds); the long jump (6.32 meters); the shot put (13.03 meters, personal best); and the high jump (1.84 meters, personal best). He finished Friday's action in fifth place with 2,704 points.