Kaymarie Jones
The Paw Print
A primary target for the Adams Track and Field team this past weekend was to qualify more athletes for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 14th- 15th to be hosted in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While many athletes improved on their provisionally qualified marks at Saturday’s event in the new indoor bubble, many stamped automatic times at the University of Washington’s Husky Classic, adding more athletes to the national list.
Adams State University’s power house, Chaz Butler, lit the High Attitude Training Center (HATC) in the men’s 60 meter open when he dismissed a field of three ASU athletes, one from West Texas A&M, one from Chadron State College, and one unattached athlete. Butler, who competed for ASU last indoor season at the national level, ran a season’s best time of 6.71 seconds, a time adjusted to 6.75 seconds for altitude conversion. Leading the group of ASU sprinters, Butler dragged Jurgen Themen to a second place finish in 6.72 seconds (6.76 adjusted) and ASU’s airborne jumper, Carlton Lavong, was third in 6.78 (6.82 adjusted). All three men are sitting on the national list in fourth, fifth, and fifteenth respectively. Freshman, Parker Jones, busted out a personal best time of 8.13 seconds in the men’s high hurdles; a time adjusted to 8.17 seconds and is good enough for fifteenth for an NCAA ranking.
Known quarter miler, Kayon Robinson, had a change in battle when she competed in the 60 meter women’s open, rather than contesting the 400 meter open. Robinson launched her way to an incredible second place finish behind ASU veteran, Indira Spence, and finished in a time of 7.52 seconds (7.54 adjusted). Ackiesha Burnett also ran a personal best time of 8.46 seconds in the women’s 60 meter hurdles and is now fifth in the nation. Serena Canegan is fourteenth with her leap of 5.72 meters in the long jump.
Derek Brown improved his efforts in the 400m men’s open when he ran 49.41 (49.62 adjusted) for second on the oval. He is now thirty-fifth on the national list. Chante Roberts; Clarendon, Jamaica, got her chance to proudly wear her green and white jersey in the women’s 800 meter run. Roberts, boxed in on the first lap, slowly wormed her way through the pack and finished way ahead of the field in 2:16.92 (2:15.07 adjusted). Impressively, Ty Williams made his way unto the national list in the men’s 5000 meters. Running a time of 14:36.92, Williams is now thirteenth. Katie Kruger and Heather Scheetz are now tenth and twenty-eight in the shot put with distances of 14.73 and 13.65 meters.
At the Husky’s Classic, Maura O’Brien ran 4:55.97 on the oversized track in the women’s mile. Her time pushes her to up to a sixth place position on the national list. At that same meet, Kevin Batt and Tabor Stevens competed in the 3000 meters and well represented ASU by hitting automatic times of 7:57.63 and 8:04.06. Both athletes lead the nation in the event. Julian Florez, now fifteenth in the nation, ran 8:23.52 to round off the Grizzlies on the national list in the men’s 3000 meters. Alicia Nelson missed the automatic qualifying time in the women’s 3000 meters by only a nose, as her time of 9:35.28 was mere seconds off the automatic time of 9:32.89. Lauren Martin and Jessie Brunette were in a non-nonsense mood at the classics in the women’s 5000 meter run. Both women ran 16:49.68 and 17:18.79 respectively. Martin now leads the nation in that event while Brunette is fourteenth.
What’s Been Said…