Dage Minors, a senior at Franklin Pierce University, has been named East Region Track Athlete of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

It is Minors’s second straight selection. Minors heads into this weekend’s NCAA Championships holding the nation’s fastest time in the 800 metres, after he posted a 1:48.70 in January, at the John Thomas Terrier Invitational hosted by Boston University. The time also ranks fifth all-time in Division II history.

Minors has bettered the automatic qualifying mark for the NCAA Championships in the event three times this winter.

Minors will begin his pursuit of a first national title for Franklin Pierce tomorrow when he competes in the preliminary heats of the 800 in the evening, followed by the finals on Saturday.

He booked his ticket to the NCAAs relatively early in the season after posting a time of 1:48.70 on January 28, bettering the NCAA automatic qualifying mark. The competition in the 800 will be stiff, however, with the nation’s top nine seed times separated by just two seconds.

A pair of runners from Fort Hayes State both posted times within two-tenths of a second of Minors and met the NCAA automatic qualifying mark as well: junior Decano Cronin (1:48.72) and sophomore Brett Meyer (1:48.89). The field of 15 is separated by just 3.27 seconds.

The NCAA Championships will be hosted by the University of Alabama and the City of Birmingham in Huntsville tomorrow, Friday and Saturday at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham.

Minors chalked up four Northeast-10 Conference titles last month to push his career total to 15 championships as he led the Franklin Pierce University men’s track and field team to a fifth-place finish at Reggie Lewis Centre in Boston.

He took home an individual title in the 800 and also anchored the Ravens’ distance medley, 4x400 and 4x800 relay team as they secured victories as the team placed fifth.