WALTHAM, Mass. – Graduate student Irie Gourde (Portland, Ore./York Academy, Toronto) has claimed New England Division III Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year honors from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Gourde was honored with the same award during the indoor season when he earned All-America honors for the first time in his career.
During the outdoor season, he has continued his success in the 200- and 400-meter dashes, going undefeated headed into this weekend's NCAA Championships. Gourde carries the fifth seed in the 400 with a time of 47.46 seconds and the 11th seed in the 200 with a mark of 21.41. Both times are school records that were set at the Open New England Championships on May 11th at Dartmouth College, running against top Division I, II and III competition. Gourde also won both events at the University Athletic Association championships April 28-29 at Carnegie Mellon University, giving him three career UAA titles. He is the only sprinter among the eight USTFCCCA Regional Track Athlete of the Year winners.
At this weekend's NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Gourde will run the 200 prelims on Thursday afternoon at 4:00 PM Central/5:00 Eastern and the 400 prelims at the same time on Friday. Finals are at 1:10 PM Central/2:10 PM Eastern on Saturday for the 400 and 2:40 Central/3:40 Eastern for the 200. The event is being held at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.
You can follow the action for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships at http://www.uwlathletics.com/sports/2017/12/7/TRACK_0423131617.aspx. Video of the event will be streamed at https://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule, with live results posted at http://www.deltatiming.com/results.aspx.