CU's Stephanie Persaud, the 2009 CCC Female Track Athlete of the Meet, helped the Cavs to the finals in the 1,600 relay on Thursday.
Four Concordia Relays Advance in First Day of NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships
COMPLETE RESULTS
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.—A quartet of Concordia relays and a pair of 5,000-meter runners made it through safely in the preliminary rounds to highlight action in the opening day of competition at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the Mini Dome on Thursday.
Sophomore Alice Taylor cruised to an 18:07.72 in the women’s 5,000 to place fourth in her heat to nab an automatic qualifier for the finals in the event. Taylor’s time was the seventh fasted posted on Thursday after entering the meet with the NAIA’s No.2 mark with a 17:12.19 to her credit. Grand View’s Obsie Birru secured the fastest time of the day with a 17:42.18 while running out of the second heat. Also competing in the event, CU’s Samantha Robert placed 14th in her heat with a 19:21.59.
With the top four in each heat advancing, Eric Burck finished third in the first heat of the men’s 5,000 with a 15:01.23 to move onto the men’s final to be held on Saturday. Burck came into the competition with the fifth fastest time on the NAIA leaderboard with a 14:51.89. Sophomore Nathan Martin, competing out of the second heat for Spring Arbor, ran a 14:57.34 for the fastest time of the day on the men’s side.
Composed of Cordero Cisneros, Jessy Brown, Charles Cummings and Martin Romero-Clark, the men’s 3,200-meter relay squad nipped the school record by .05 with a 7:48.69 in a second-place result in the second heat for the event. Dakota State beat the Cavs to the line with a 7:46.70 for the best overall time out of the three heats. The two teams will face each other again, along with six other squads, to vie for the national title in the event on Friday
In the biggest pressure preliminary situation of the day, the CU women’s 1,600 relay team assured itself of All-American status as one of only six quartets to advance to the finals.
The Cavaliers registered a school-record time of 3:54.86 in a second-place finish in the third of four heats. With only the winning teams automatically advancing, the CU team of Stephanie Persaud, Mariana Toscano, Sabrina Hoffman and Catherine Sims snared one of the two additional slots with the second-fastest non-winning time.
Sioux Falls took top honors in the heat by edging the Cavaliers by less than a second (3:53.99 to 3:54.86). At the end of the prelims, CU had little more than a second to spare as Fresno Pacific posted the fastest non-qualifying time with a 3:56.19. Eastern Oregon placed eighth in the relay with a 3:56.42.
Concordia’s time eclipsed the previous school record, set at the Vandal Indoor on February 19, by .01.
In the final event of the day for Concordia, the women’s distance medley relay team of Lauren Moran, Siara Leininger, Andria Scheese and Taylor, took the top spot with a 12:15.08 to barely hold off the Biola team that crossed in 12:15.25.
Concordia’s time was the second fastest out of three heats as Simon Fraser posted a 12:12.97 for more than a six second gap over Jamestown (12:19.07) in the third and final section.
Now more than halfway through the heptathlon, Patrick Fennimore will take an evening rest while sitting in 10th place out of 16 competitors with 2,552 total points. Fennimore opened the day with his biggest point haul with 719 points in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.48 and posted his best placing in the long jump by ending the event in sixth place with a jump of 21-3 1/2 for 695 points.
Azusa Pacific teammates Staphon Arnold and Casey Stevick hold down the top two spots with three events remaining. Stevick tallied 2,920 total points while Arnold finished just 13 points back with 2,930.
NAIA Indoor Championships
Johnson City, Tenn.
March 4, 2010
Concordia Men’s Results:
5,000: 3. (Heat 1) Eric Burck, 15:01.23*
3,200 Relay: 2. (Heat 2) Concordia, 7:48.69*
Concordia Women’s Results:
5,000: 4. (Heat 2) Alice Taylor, 18:07.72*
5,000: 14. (Heat 1) Samantha Robert, 19:21.59
1,600 Relay: 2. (Heat 3) Concordia, 3:43.86*
Distance Medley: 1. (Heat 2) Concordia, 12:15.08*
*Advances to finals