Scott Kretzmann
ASC Sports
Information Director
WALNUT, Calif. – On a busy weekend that saw Grizzly track & field athletes competing in both California and Colorado, senior sprinters Kaymarie Jones (St. Elizabeth, Jamaica) and Indira Spence (Trelawny, Jamaica) each posted nation-leading times in hurdle events, while a trio of ASC men posted automatic qualifiers that rank in the top five of the 5,000 meter run this weekend at the 54th Annual Mt. SAC Relays.
In addition to competing at the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays, ASC athletes also took to the track or field at the Beach Invitational hosted by Long Beach State in Norwalk, Calif., and at the closer to home Western State Open in Gunnison, Colo.
Jones, already with qualifiers at both the 100 and 400 meter hurdles this season, competed in the open fields of both at Mt. SAC. She added her name to the list of automatically qualified athletes in each event, running the fourth-fastest time of the season in the 100 hurdles of 13.56 seconds, while setting a new DII standard for the season of 58.19 for the 400 hurdles.
Senior Lindsey Grasmick (Fowler, Colo.) was also in action with Jones in the 400 hurdles, but her provisional mark of 1:01.00 at Mt. SAC did not best her previous fastest mark of the season.
Spence, previously posted a DII leading time in the 100 meter hurdles this season re-captured the top spot with an even faster clocking of 13.09 seconds while running in the Olympic Developmental heat of the event at Mt. SAC. She also joined teammate Kayon Robinson (Clarendon, Jamaica) in the 200 meter dash in running a provisional mark for the 200 meter dash. Robinson led the duo with a time of 23.94 seconds, ranked No. 4 in the nation, while Spence’s showing of 24.31 seconds ranks in the top 10 as well.
In addition to her provisional 200 meter mark, Robinson landed just outside the top 10 in DII this season in the 400 meter dash with a finish in 54.94 seconds.
Spence, Robinson, Chelsea Fenderson (Aurora, Colo.) and Jones also teamed up to put the Grizzly women atop the DII landscape in the 4×100 meter relay. ASC already owned an automatic mark in the event, but lowered their season-best to 45.31 seconds.
For the ASC men, eight qualifying performances were achieved at Mt. SAC, seven being improvements or firsts.
Freshman Boris Berian (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and senior Drew Graham (Newcastle, England), who finished 1-2 in the 800 meter run at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in March, each ran provisional marks in the event. Berian led the way with the No. 2 time in the nation this season of 1:52.42, while Graham’s clocking of 1:50.80 ranks fifth.
Freshman Kevin Batt (Sydney, Australia) was the fastest of five Grizzlies to run qualifiers in the 5,000 meter run at Mt. SAC. Running in the Olympic Developmental heat, Batt set a new personal best with a time of 13:53.91, which comes in at No. 3 in DII this season.
Senior Matt Bond (Worcester, England) ran the fastest time of the four Adams State qualifiers in the open heats. Bond’s time of 13:55.93 ranks No. 4 in DII, while freshman Matt Daniels (Arlington, Texas) ran the No. 5 time of 13:59.26. Batt, Bond and Daniels each clocked automatic qualifiers.
Redshirt-freshman Tabor Stevens (Canon City, Colo.) and junior David Sanchez (Farmersville, Calif.) each ran provisional times that rank 10th and 14th in the country. Stevens finished in a time of 14:08.69 while Sanchez clocked a 14:11.53.
Sophomore thrower Wesley Lavong (Philadelphia, Pa.) was also a qualifier at Mt. SAC, once again reaching a provisional mark in the shot put with a toss of 16.47 meters (54’ ½”), but was unable to improve upon his top throw of the season which cleared 17 meters.
At the Mountaineer Bowl in Gunnison, sophomore Krystal Thomas (Aurora, Colo.) ran a provisional time of 14.37 seconds for the 100 hurdles. Meanwhile, freshman KrissAnn Walters (Kingston, Jamaica) reached qualifying distances of 5.86 meters (19’2 ¾”) and 11.79 meters (38’8 ¼”) in the long jump and triple jump, respectively. Her long jump mark currently ranks 11th in DII.
Freshman Julia Costin (Parker, Colo.) also recorded a season-best of 13.75 meters (45’1 ½”) in the shot put, a provisional mark that ranks 21st in the nation.
Next weekend the Grizzlies will be in action for the final time before the May 6-8 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Championships at the April 28 Jack Christiansen Invitational hosted by Colorado State in Fort Collins.
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