The University of Southern Maine men's indoor track and field team received a school record-setting performance from its 4 x 400-meter relay team Saturday to finish 11th overall at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEIcAAA) Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the Track and Tennis Center on the campus of Boston University.
   
The Huskies picked up four points with the 4 x 400 relay's fifth place result to finish the meet in 11th place with 20 points.  The 11th place finish was the best in the history of the program.
      
Senior Derek Murchie (Windham, Maine), junior Doug Mercer (Laconia, N.H.), freshman Corey Gobbi (Haverhill, Mass.) and junior Jimmy Sawyer (Gorham, Maine) combined for a time of 3 minutes, 18.92 seconds to break their previous record of 3:21.85, set in January on the same track, by nearly three seconds.  The quartet's time was just 0.42 seconds shy of the NCAA provisional qualifying standard of 3:18.50.
 
In Friday's competition, the Huskies picked up 16 points as the seniors Curtis and Nick Wheeler (Derby, Vt./North Country Union) finished one-three in the 5,000 meters.  Curtis won the event with a school record time of 14:37.99 while Nick turned in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 14:45.02.
     
In other highlights from Friday, Sawyer lowered his school record in the 800 meters with a time of 1:55.25 in his trials race.  He was 12th overall.  He set the old mark of 1:56.35 six days ago at the New England Division III Championships.  Murchie knocked 0.06 seconds off his previous 200-meter record time, set in February 2006, crossing the line in 22.68.

For complete results, go to: http://www.usm.maine.edu/athletics/Men's_Indoor_Track/mitresults.html and click on the appropriate link
                                                                   -ble-