June 3, 2011

U.S. Outdoor Track & Field Championship Website | Current U.S. Event Rankings

West Point, N.Y. - Former Fordham Male Student-Athlete of the Year Matt DiBuono is still making an impact as a field event competitor, almost two years after placing 14th in the hammer throw at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship. Competing for the Shore Athletic Club of New Jersey (Shore AC) on June 1st, DiBuono qualified for the 2011 U.S. Outdoor Track & Field National Championship, which will be held later this month.

DiBuono, who still holds the Fordham school record in the hammer throw at 214' 4", competed for Shore AC at a meet held at West Point on June 1st, recording a mark of 76.60 meters or 251' 4" in the hammer throw. That distance surpassed the U.S. "A" Standard qualifying mark of 69.00 meters or 226' 4" for U.S. Nationals, making him the first former Fordham athlete to make the National Championship since Lauren Gubicza did in the early 1990s.

DiBuono's mark of 251' 4" is the second-best mark by any U.S. competitor this year, behind only Kibwé Johnson of the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) at 262' 9" (80.09 meters), which was set in Uberlándia, Brazil on May 18th. DiBuono's mark also ranks him currently 14th in the world, based on the current listing on HammerThrow.eu.

The 2011 U.S. Outdoor Track & Field National Championship will take place June 23rd-26th at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. DiBuono will take part in the hammer throw event on June 23rd. DiBuono will join current Rams Sam Houston (decathlon) and Anisa Arsenault (5,000 meters) at the meet, as they will be in the U.S. Junior Championship, which also takes place at Hayward Field the same weekend.

DiBuono was a three-time Atlantic 10 champion in the hammer throw, a two-time Athlete of the Meet at the Metropolitan Championship, and the 2009 Vincent T. Lombardi Award winner as Male Student-Athlete of the Year.