Cavs Add Four NAIA Qualifiers in First Day of Stanford Invite

3/27/2009 9:16:31 PM

STANFORD Calif.—The Concordia men’s and women’s track and field program added four NAIA Outdoor Qualifiers in the first day of action at the Stanford Invitational on Friday.

The quartet of additions gives the Cavaliers 15 total qualifying performances in two weeks of action under the outdoor season.

“It was a good first day,” Concordia head coach Randy Dalzell said. “We feel good about the marks. You can always get more but we produced a lot of good qualifiers in a balanced day of competition between the sprints, jumps and throws.”

Competing in his first outdoor competition of his career, Eric Whalen gained an automatic qualifier with a 205-1 toss in the javelin. Placing fourth overall in the collegiate division, Whalen’s throw ranked him third all-time on the CU performance list and easily eclipsed the 190-4 ‘A’ standard in the event.

“We were really hoping he (Eric) would get an auto mark today. I haven’t really had a chance to see him throw the javelin yet so to see him open with that kind of mark is outstanding,” Dalzell said.

After crossing just shy of provisional status last week at the University of Oregon, senior Jordan Hamblen lowered is time in the 400-meter hurdles by .33 to nab a provisional qualifier with a 55.26. Also reaching the ‘B’ standard was Erika Schmid in the high jump. Schmid cleared a season-best 5-5 in a third-place result to match the NAIA provisional standard.

“That jump should get her to nationals,” Dalzell said. “It’s great for her to open that well as this should give her some extra confidence throughout the season.”

The final qualifier of the day came from Leon Carl in the discus with a 154-10 effort, nearly matching his career-best measurement of 158-11 set at the 2008 Cascade Conference championships.

Setting school records on the first day of action at the Cobb Track and Angell Field were Katherine Tripp and Lauren Moran. Adding to her school record as well as increasing her distance as the No. 1 shot putter in NAIA, Tripp unleashed a 47-5 3/4 toss to finish in fourth place among the invitational field. Tripp entered the weekend as the top mark in NAIA with a 46-10 1/4 effort.

“She hit an improvement over last week. We know she feels like she can go much farther, but after trying to peak for indoors there is always a little downtime. By the end of the year we are hoping she can pop a big one,” Dalzell said.

Just the second competitor to run the event for Concordia in its three-year history of track, Moran finished the 300-meter steeplechase in 11:54.86 to establish a new school best.

Already ranked No.3 in the NAIA, Curtis Parrish chopped exactly one half of a second off his season best with a 53.33 in the 400 hurdles. Adding nearly six feet to her season best with a 1:44.9 in the discus, Emily Redmayne-Titley also added strength to a top-rated mark and will likely move up the NAIA performance list. In the javelin, Lauren Sexton was measured with a 140-10 throw to boost her NAIA auto mark from last week by more than four feet.


Stanford Invitational
Stanford University
Cobb Track and Angell Field
Stanford, Calif.
March 27-28

Concordia Results

Men
100: 29. Matt Challender, 11.36; 33. Patrick Fennimore, 11.67; 34. Trevor Schwanz, 11.72. 110 Hurdles: 27. Chris Wilson, 15.57; 31. Eric Serres, 16.66. 400 Hurdles: 7. Curtis Parrish, 53.33; 19. Jordan Hamblen, 55.26. Long Jump (Collegiate): 16. Chris Wilson, 19-8 (5.99m). High Jump (Collegiate): 7. Daniel Scheetz, 6-0 3/4 (1.85m); NH. Trevor Schwanz. Shot (Collegiate): 3. Eric Whalen, 48-6 (14.78m); 4. Leon Carl, 46-4 (14.73m); 9. Derek Ferguson, 43-5 3/4 (13.25m). Discus (Collegiate): 5. Leon Carl, 154-2 (46.99m); 16. Michael Wright, 139-8 (42.58m); 17. Derek Ferguson, 136-3 (41.52m). Javelin (Collegiate): 3. Eric Whalen, 205-1 (62.52m). Javelin (Invitational): 9. Paul Roshau, 200-5 (61.10m).

Women
100: 20. Joyce Oniah, 12.73; 21. Stephanie Persaud, 12.77; 24. Dominique Jacoy, 12.97; 25. Kacey Jameson, 12.98. 100 Hurdles: 20. Eunice Makinde, 15.37; 22. Dominique Jacoy, 16.20. 400 Hurdles: 21. Sabrina Hoffman, 1:08.27. Steeple: 17. Lauren Moran, 11:54.86. High Jump (Collegiate): 4. Erika Schmid, 5-5 (1.65m). Shot (Collegiate): 11. Emily Redmayne-Titley, 36-4 (11.07m). Shot (Invitational): 4. Katherine Tripp, 47-5 3/4 (14.47m). Discus (Collegiate): 4. Emily Redmayne-Titley, 144-9 (44.11m); 10. Katherine Tripp, 135-1 (41.18m). Javelin (Collegiate): 4. Aria Nojima, 130-10 (39.88m). Javelin (Invitational): 11. Lauren Sexton, 140-10 (42.92m).

NAIA Qualifiers

Men
Leon Carl, discus, (provisional)
Jordan Hamblen, 400 hurdles (provisional)
Eric Whalen, javelin (automatic)

Women
Erika Schmid, high jump (provisional)