Chris Day
ASC Sports Information
Led by a trio of milers and a pair of 5,000 meter runners, the Grizzly men’s track and field squad has 11 accepted athletes in seven events into the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field National Championships, which will be hosted by Adams State at the Albuquerque (N.M.) Convention Center March 11-12.
Nine individual performances by this year’s ASC squad have been accepted, as well as nation-leading effort in the Distance Medley Relay, an event in which the Grizzlies lead the nation and will enter the meet as defending champs. Last year’s national championships winning squad also sent 11 individual athletes to Albuquerque, but had 15 accepted performances, including six entries each in the mile and 5,000 meter run.
Adams State will enter the D-II Championships with a pair of nation leading performances.
The DMR squad of sophomore Keegan Calmes, junior Calvin Fletcher, redshirt freshman Antoine Malare, and freshman Tabor Stevens who clocked an adjusted time of 9 minutes, 50.91 seconds at the Univ. of New Mexico Classic on Feb. 4. That squad will also have the option of using alternate Drew Graham (Newcastle, England) who has been accepted in the 800 meter run as well with a time of 1:52.44 that ranks eleventh in the nation.
Sophomore Craig Huffer, who was named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Men’s Track Athlete of the Year following the league championships on Sunday and took home the league crown in the 3,000 meter run, leads the nation in the mile by a sizeable margin. Huffer’s adjusted time of 3:59.72 stands as the only sub-4:00 mark in D-II this year and is more than four seconds ahead of the No. 2 mark in the nation, held by teammate Calmes at 4:04.27.
Malarte will also be toeing the starting line for the mile at the D-II Championhips, qualifying as the seventh of 13 accepted entries in 4:09.94.
Senior Brandon Birdsong and junior Nathan Sellers will be the Grizzlies representatives in the 5,000 meter run. Birdsong owns the fourth fastest qualifier, a time of 14:09.55 from the Washington Husky Classic on Feb. 4. He also won the event at the RMAC Championships and earned his first individual league title.
Sellers has run the 5K twice this season, and also posted his best time of the season at the Husky Classic in 14:22.48. He was the final of 12 accepted entries into the D-II Championships.
Senior Blair Sohl defended his RMAC indoor title in the pole vault over the weekend, his third overall league crown. His clearance of 4.86 meters (15’11 ¼”) was a new indoor personal best and has led to his first trip the NCAA Championships, accepted as the twelfth of 13 in the pole vault.
Redshirt freshman Wesley Lavong, who received recognition as the RMAC Men’s Freshman of the Year, had an outstanding meet at the RMAC Championships. On Friday, Lavong was one of five ASC throwers to garner points in the weight throw, where he placed third with a distance of 16.24 meters (53’3 ½”). And on Saturday, Lavong’s heave of 17.35 meters (56’11 ¼”) in the shot put made him the RMAC Champion, and as the ninth best mark in the nation, earned him a spot at the NCAA Championships.
Freshman Alex Estes (Yampa, Colo.) recorded a second provisional qualifier and season best of 7.22 meters (23’8 ¼”) in the long jump on Friday. Estes’ mark was the event-winner, and he has been accepted as the eleventh of 13 competitors to the D-II Championships.
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