CU's Burck Claims NAIA Title in 5,000 Meters
COMPLETE RESULTS
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.— Eric Burck claimed a national championship in the 5,000 as Concordia posted eight All-America performances in the final day of competition at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday.
Boosted by the 10 points from Burck, the Concordia men finished with 13 points to conclude the three-day meet in 17th place. The CU women tallied 18 points and finished in 11th place in the team standings.
“Our women had a really great meet as a team. The distance runners had a big workload trying to get through the rounds and kept fighting until the end,” Dalzell said. “On the men’s side we were obviously hoping to get a few more points. Some things didn’t go how we had hoped, but things like that are always going to happen at a championship meet.”
Bettering his school record by more than 13 seconds with a time of 14:33.22, Burck, a senior from Ephrata, Wash., controlled the final kilometer of the race to pull away from the field for the school’s first men’s indoor national championship.
In a field which featured six of the top seven performers in the event this season, Burck separated himself from the competition in the final laps to eventually win with more than a five-second gap over Azusa Pacific runner-up Abenego Magut who clocked in at 14:38.83. Embry-Riddle’s Evans Kirwa finished third with a 14:43.56.
“Eric just took off those last laps,” CU head coach Randy Dalzell said. “He executed an outstanding strategy in what turned out to be a dominating victory.”
Burck placed third in the 5,000 at the 2009 Indoor Championships, fourth in the 10,000 at the Outdoor Championships and was a sixth-place finisher at the 2008 NAIA Cross Country Championships. He came in ranked fifth in the NAIA with a 14:46.58 effort in the 5,000 from earlier in the year.
Capturing her fourth All-America honor of her career, senior Katherine Tripp finished with her highest result at a national championship with a runner-up result in the shot put. Tripp was measured in 47-7 1/4 on her sixth and final throw to move up two places in the culminating attempt. Oklahoma Christian’s Denise Mattoon took gold in the event with a 49-0 1/4 toss. Tripp has a lifetime indoor best of 49-1which was set at the 2009 Indoor Championships.
“Coming in we were not even sure Katherine was going to be able to throw after being on crutches with a knee injury earlier in the week,” Dalzell said. ““It was just a great overall effort for her today.”
In the men’s shot, sophomore Eric Whalen posted his second straight All-America performance. A year after placing fifth in the indoor champs with a 53-0 3/4 toss, Whalen improved the distance by nearly a full foot by unleashing a 53-10 1/2, but his mark would hold for a sixth-place result, one slot down from a year ago.
In addition to Burck’s school record, two more all-time school marks fell on Saturday as the women’s 1,600-meter relay and distance medley teams lowered CU’s all-time best performance with All-America runs.
The medley squad consisting of Lauren Moran, Siara Leininger, Andria Scheese and Alice Taylor placed sixth overall with a 12:13.34 and the 1,600 relay comprised of Stephanie Persaud, Sabrina Hoffman, Catherine Sims and Mariana Toscano toured the track in 3:53.14 for a fourth-place result.
With the distance medley yet to come, Scheese and Taylor opened their day with individual runs to capture a second All-America honor. Scheese cruised to a fourth-place finish in the mile with a 5:05.32 and Taylor crossed the line in 17:58.06 for a sixth-place result in the 5,000. Moran, another member of the medley squad, competed in the 3,000 and finished in eighth place with a 10:11.76, missing the coveting top-six finish by six seconds.
Martin Romero-Clark registered the team’s eighth top-six finish with a 2:27.78 in the 1,000-meter run. Romero-Clark grabbed the fifth position in the race while teammate Jessy Brown concluded the race one position shy of All-America status with a 2:29.38 in seventh place.
In the pole vault, Jordan Trump cleared 15-5 to end in a five-way tie for ninth.
“Our assistant coaches have done an outstanding job getting our athletes ready for this meet. LaVon’s (Pierce) work with the sprinters and Jason’s (Mueller) work with our distance runners, especially with Eric’s national championship, really showed today,” Dalzell said. “Overall, we are extremely pleased as this was the biggest group we have taken to indoors and we will continue to look to increase our presence here.”
NAIA Indoor Championships
Johnson City, Tenn.
March 4-6, 2010
National Champions: (1) Eric Burck
All-Americans: (8)
1st, Eric Burck, Men’s 5,000
2nd, Katherine Tripp, Women’s Shot
4th, Andria Scheese, Women’s Mile
4th, Women’s 1,600 Relay (Persaud, Hoffman, Sims, Toscano)
5th, Martin Romero-Clark, Men’s 1,000
6th, Alice Taylor, Women’s 5,000
6th, Eric Whalen, Men’s Shot
6th, Women’s Distance Medley (Moran, Leininger, Scheese, Taylor)
DAY 3
Women’s Results:
Mile: 4. Andria Scheese, 5:05.32.
3,000: 8. Lauren Moran, 10:11.76.
5,000: 6. Alice Taylor, 17:58.06.
Shot: 2. Katherine Tripp, 47-7 1/4 (14.51m). 29. Gabriella Dixson, 38-10 1/4 (11.84m).
1,600 Relay: 4. Concordia, 3:53.14 (Stephanie Persaud, Sabrina Hoffman, Catherine Sims, Mariana Toscano).
Distance Medley: 6. Concordia, 12:13.34 (Lauren Moran, Siara Leininger, Andria Scheese, Alice Taylor).
Men’s Results:
1,000: 5. Martin Romero-Clark, 2:27.89; 7. Jessy Brown, 2:29.38.
5,000: 1. Eric Burck, 14:33.22.
Pole Vault: T9. Jordan Trump, 15-5 (4.70m); NH: Seth Cordell; NH: KC Vaughn.
Shot: 6. Eric Whalen, 53-10 1/2 (16.42m)