CU Men 5th, Women 7th at NAIA Championships
COMPLETE RESULTS
MARION, Ind.—With six more All-Americans on the final day of action, Concordia University posted top 10 finishes in both the men’s and the women’s team standings at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Indiana Wesleyan University.
The Concordia men finished in fifth place in the team standings with 40 points. Wayland Baptist took the team title on the men’s side with 70 points and was followed by Dickinson State with a 51-point total. British Columbia placed third with 46, one point ahead of Oklahoma Baptist (45).
The CU women tallied 38 points to for seventh place in the team standings. Azusa Pacific edged Oklahoma Baptist for the women’s crown 61 to 60 points. Simon Fraser placed third with 56 points and Shorter took fourth with 51.
In all, the Cavaliers posted All-American performances in 12 events while setting seven school records over the three-day championships.
The Cavaliers scored eight points in the discus throw as Gabriella Dixson tossed 150-1 in her third attempt while Breezy Wentz joined Dixson as an All-American with a sixth-place result after unleashing a 147-7, also on her third throw. Also competing in the discus, Emily Redmayne-Titley finished in 18th with a 135-0. Southwest’s (N.M.) Melesia Mafile’o Blackwill took gold with a 155-6, a five inch win over runner-up Nichole Arnold of Bethel (Ind.) who registered a 155-1. Four feet ahead of Dixson, Lisa Hughes of Lindwenwood placed third while Dixson edged the fifth-place finisher by a single inch.
Lauren Moran scored six points with a third-place finish in the steeplechase. Justyna Moody, the pre-favorite and returning champion, took the lead from the gun and cruised to a win with a 10:23.75 which fell shy of her meet record of 10:12.13 which she set last year as a freshman. Moran battled Jamestown’s Katie Conlon for the first half of the race before Conlon pulled away in chase of Moody, finishing in second with a 10:30.87. Moran held off the chase pack as the next three finishers finished within seven seconds of the CU sophomore.
In the final event of the championships for Concordia, Alice Taylor placed sixth in the 5,000 with a 17:55.18. Taylor stayed with the lead pack through the first mile and fell off to eighth late in the race before surging over the final 200 meters to earn All-American honors. Mudy, the steeplechase winner from earlier in the day, took first with a 17:19.81 after outdueling a pair of harriers from Asuza Pacific.
A few minutes later, senior Eric Burck turned in a gutsy performance with a fifth-place finish just two days after a runner-up finish in the 10,000. Burck finished with a 14:44.87 and used a strong kick over the last 600 meters to move up the ladder. Burck was edged at the line by Lewis-Clark State’s Dave Marks by .01 for fourth place while the top three finished well ahead of the pack. Kennedy Kithuka, the 10,000 champion, became a double-winner with a convincing 13:56.82, nearly a minute ahead of Carison Kemei, the second-place finisher out of Wayland Baptist.
With the starters’ gun going off at 6 a.m. to avoid the heat, Sophia DeGraff placed fifth overall in the marathon to earn All-American honors. DeGraff, the first Concordia competitor to run the event, finished the race in 3 hours, 12 minutes and 41 seconds. Wendy O’Lexey took first place eight eight minutes with a 2:57.59. Christina Hanson of Dana College finished just ahead of DeGraff with a 3:11:04.
Catherine Sims placed seventh in the finals of the 400-meter dash to add two points to the Concordia total. Sims was able to pick off a pair of runners around the third turn, moving up to fifth at one point, but was caught in the final strides. Sims crossed in 55.83, a shade off her 55.18 school record in the semifinals on Friday and just .03 off sixth place for All-American honors. Marissa Mosely took first with a 53.43, nearly a full second ahead of second-place finisher Sarah Laine of Point Loma who crossed in 54.47. A mere .22 separated fourth from eighth place.
Eric Whalen, who entered the meet tied with the No. 4 mark in the NAIA, did not advance to finals and finished in 14th place with a best throw of 51-5 3/4. Whalen fouled on his first attempt and hit the 51-5 3/4 on his third attempt. Nick Robinson of Concordia (Cal.) won the shot with a 60-3 3/4 heave, finishing with more than two feet gap over runner-up Scott Fritz (58-0 1/4) of Hastings.
Finishing tied in for 11th place, Jordan Trump cleared his opening height of 15-5 on his first attempt in the pole vault, but could not repeat the performance when the bar was raised to 15-11. Four athletes cleared 15-11 with two making the attempt of their first attempt to tie for fifth and claim All-American honors while two others were successful on their second attempt to tie for seventh place. Stefanos Koufidis, a freshman from Culver-Stockton, took gold in the event with as 16-10 3/4 jump.
ALL-AMERICANS
Eric Burck, Men’s 10,000, 2nd
Eric Burck, Men’s 5,000, 5th
Paul Roshau, Men’s Javelin, 2nd
Erik Kuster, Men’s Discus, 3rd
Eunice Makinde, Women’s 100 Hurdles, 3rd
Lauren Moran, Women’s Steeplechase, 3rd
Gabriella Dixson, Women’s Hammer, 4th
Sophia DeGraff, Women’s Marathon, 5th
Men’s 3,200-Meter Relay, 5th (Martin Romero-Clark, Marcus Nelson, Jessy Brown, Cordero Cisneros)
Jesse Staub, Men’s Javelin, 5th
Alice Taylor, Women’s 5,000, 6th
Eric Whalen, Men’s Javelin, 6th
SCHOOL RECORDS
Sophie DeGraff, Women’s Marathon, 3:12:41.80
Gabriella Dixson, Women’s Hammer (old mark of 169-8 by Dixson in 2010)
Kaley Jameson, Women’s 100 (old mark of 12.27 by Stephanie Persaud in 2010)
Eunice Makinde, Women’s 100 Hurdles (Semis), 14.08 (old mark of 14.28 set by Makinde in 2010)
Taylor Schmidt, Decathlon, 6,481 (old mark of 6,306 by Schmidt in 2010)
Catherine Sims, Women’s 400 (Semis), 55.17 (old mark of 56.30 by Sims in 2010)
Men’s 3,200 Relay, 7:34.04 (old mark of 7:36.90 set in 2010)
Complete CU Women’s Results
100 (Semis): 18. Kaley Jameson , 12.47. 100 (Prelims): 17. Kaley Jameson, 12.06; 27. Stephanie Persaud, 12.26. 400 (Semis): 3. Catherine Sims, 55.18. 400 (Prelims): 8. Catherine Sims, 57.10. 800 (Semis): 18. Junia Limage, 2:20.95. 800 (Prelims): 15. Junia Limage, 2:18.25. 5,000 (Semis): 4. Alice Taylor, 18:14.98; 28. Samantha Robert, 19:27.54. 10,000: 10. Alice Taylor, 37:32.89; 11. Samantha Robert, 38:00.74. 100 Hurdles (Final): 3. Eunice Makinde, 14.29. 100 Hurdles (Semis): 5. Eunice Makinde, 14.08. 100 Hurdles (Prelims): 8. Eunice Makinde, 14.36. Steeplechase (Prelims): 1. Lauren Moran, 11:08.80. Discus: 4. Gabriella Dixson, 150-1 (47.26m); 6. Breezy Wentz, 147-7 (44.99m); 18. Emily Redmayne-Titley, 135-0 (41.14m). Hammer: 4. Gabriella Dixson, 171-11 (52.41m); 7. Amanda Federici, 164-8 (50.19m). Javelin: 7. Kai Schmidt, 139-9 (42.61m).Heptathlon: 15. Dominique Jacoy, 4,199 (16.28; 4-7 3/4 [1.42m]; 34-0 3/4 [10.38m]; 26.32; 16-2 1/2 [4.94]; 102-0 [31.09m]; 2:35.79). 400 Relay (Semis): DQ: Concordia, (Eunice Makinde, Kaley Jameson, Stephanie Persaud, Catherine Sims). 400 Relay (Prelims): 10. Concordia, 47.59 (Eunice Makinde, Kaley Jameson, Stephanie Persaud, Catherine Sims). 1,600 Relay (Semis): 13. Concordia, 3:53.31 (Sabrina Hoffman, Mariana Toscano, Catherine Sims, Junia Limage).
Complete CU Men’s Results
1,500 (Prelims): 18. Cordero Cisneros, 3:59.33. 5,000 (Semis): 7. Eric Burck, 14:59.56. 10,000: 2. Eric Burck, 30:37.70. 110 Hurdles (Semis): 18. Chris Wilson, 15.47. 100 Hurdles (Prelims): 17. Chris Wilson, 14.81. Steeplechase (Prelims): 17. Charles Cummings, 9:29.08. Discus: 3. Erik Kuster, 164-7 (50.18m); 14. Derek Furgason, 149-4 (45.52m). Hammer: 7. Bo Johnson, 180-7 (55.05m). Javelin: 2. Paul Roshau, 231-5 (70.54m); 5. Jesse Staub, 203-7 (62.05m); 6. Eric Whalen, 201-2 (61.32m); 9. Tim Wyland, 197-3 (60.13m). Decathlon: 8. Taylor Schmidt, 6,481 (11.71; 20-2 1/2 [6.16m]; 39-5 3/4 [12.03m]; 6-1 1/4 [1.86m]; 52.23; 15.28; 109-4 [33.33m]; 13-3 1/2 [4.05m]; 171-8 [52.33m]; 5:01.94). 3,200 Relay (Final): 5. Concordia, 7:34.04 (Martin Romero-Clark, Marcus Nelson, Jessy Brown, Cordero Cisneros). 3,200 (Prelims): 2. Concordia, 7:36.90 (Martin Romero-Clark, Marcus Nelson, Jessy Brown, Cordero Cisneros).