June 2, 2009

Bronx, N.Y. - Fordham University senior Matt DiBuono (New Rochelle, N.Y./Iona Prep) has been selected to compete in the hammer throw competition at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships to be held from June 10-13 at the University of Arkansas. Hammer throw qualifying will begin on Wednesday, June 10th, at 10:30 a.m. (C.S.T) with the finals slated for Friday, June 12th, at 1:00 p.m. (C.S.T).

DiBuono qualified as an at-large competitor. The top five finishers from each of the four regional qualifiers earn automatic bids to nationals. The at-large pool student-athletes are then listed in order of their best performance of the year, including any best marks established at the regional meet. The committee fills the field in each event by starting at the top of the at-large pool until the cap of 544 student-athletes per gender is reached.

DiBuono qualified with the 15th best hammer throw in the NCAA Division I this year, a school-record toss of 65.34m (214' 4") at the IC4A Championships on May 16th.

Last weekend, DiBuono competed in the hammer throw at the NCAA East Regional in Greensboro, North Carolina where he placed seventh overall with a top toss of 62.33m (204' 5.5"). The 2009 Vincent T. Lombardi Award winner as Fordham's Male Athlete of the Year improved on his 16th place finish at last year's NCAA Regional, advancing to the finals of the event. He opened the preliminaries with a mark of 60.90m 199' 10") followed by a foul on his second attempt. DiBuono then posted a mark of 62.33m (204' 6") to move on to the finals of the hammer throw, qualifying fifth of 30 competitors.

In the final, DiBuono was unable to better that 62.33m throw, as he fouled on his first two final attempts, while his final toss went 61.59m. He would finish seventh overall, scoring two points in the event, which placed Fordham in a tie for 43rd out of 51 teams that scored on the weekend.

DiBuono was an automatic regional qualifier as the Atlantic 10 champion in the hammer, his third straight A-10 hammer throw title. But he didn't need the automatic bid as by the time the 2009 Atlantic 10 Championship came around he had already qualified for the regional with an automatic qualifying mark throw of 206' 2" at the Colonial Relays on April 3rd. He would surpass that mark with a throw of 213' 5" at the Metropolitan Championships, earning Athlete of the Meet honors for the second consecutive year.

Indoors, DiBuono won the weight throw at the 2009 Atlantic 10 on February 20th with a Fordham record toss of 61' 10.25". He then bettered that record by placing third with a throw of 63' 7.5" at the 2009 IC4A Indoor Championships on March 9th.