WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Senior Matthew Zagura (Ellington, Conn.) will compete in the hammer event Friday afternoon at the 34th Annual NCAA Division III Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Championship, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.

Zagura is seeded 11th in the 17-person field and will compete in the second flight late Friday afternoon. The competition is scheduled to get underway at 4 p.m. ET. Competing in Zagura’s flight are top-seeded Kevin Becker, a senior from the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, and second-seeded Jason Fisher, a junior from Central College (IA). Becker won the 2005 title with a throw of 208-10. Ross Kapp, last year’s national titlist from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, has graduated.

The top nine finishers following first-round competition advance to the final round, where the top eight are accorded All-America honors.

Zagura will be making his second showing at the national championship this year. In March, he qualified for the national indoor meet at Terre Haute, IN, where he placed tenth in the 35-pound weight throw. He did not qualify for the finals of that competition.

This year in the hammer event, Zagura placed second in the New England Division III meet with a throw of 175-6 and sixth in the ECAC Division III meet (157-1), won the Little East Conference title for the third straight year (program record 176-7 ½) and was second in the New England Alliance scoring. His throw in the LEC/NEA meet was the second-longest in New England at the time.

At the New England Division III meet, Zagura was second to Bates College junior Noah Gauthier and in the New England Alliance Meet, he was second to Worcester State College senior Olaseni Fujah. Gauthier is seeded fourth and Fujah tenth in this weekend’s national meet.

Two others from New England institutions will be competing in the hammer event Friday: Springfield College junior Dominic Uguccioni and U.S. Coast Guard Academy junior Chris Hunt. Uguccioni is seeded 15th, Hunt 16th.

Zagura is attempting to become the program’s second All-America in as many years, following David Nicholson, who was sixth at 400 meters at the 2006 national indoor meet. Eastern Hall of Famer Bonnie Edmondson is the last Eastern thrower to gain All-America honors when she was fourth in the discus in the 1987 outdoor meet. The last Eastern male to win All-America honors in a throwing event was Eastern Hall of Famer Vinnie Pillari, who placed third in the shot in the 1977 outdoor meet.