GENEVA, Ohio—Highlighted by an individual national championship in the shot put by Kayla Xavier, Concordia University team placed ninth overall in the women’s team standings at the 2011 NAIA Indoor National Championships held at the GaREAT Sports Complex on Saturday.

 

Concordia finished with 26 points to place ninth overall in the women’s standings, its highest finish n the program’s history at indoor nationals. The CU men placed 31st overall with seven points. The Cavaliers scored All-American performances in nine events, including six of which came on the women’s side of the team.

 

Xavier  teamed up with Katherine Tripp to score more than half of the team’s 26 points in the shot put with Tripp gaining a fourth-place finish for a pair of All-America performances in eth event. Xavier didn’t waste any time making an impression on the 30-athlete field with a 48-11 3/4 toss on her first attempt. No other competitor would come within a full foot of the mark but Xavier managed to add to her advantage with a 49-0 3/4 effort on her sixth and final throw.

 

Tripp garnered her best throw of the day on her second attempt with a 46-1 1/2. She went into the finals ranked second on the leaderboard but was clipped by a pair of throwers in the final two rounds. The occasion marked Tripp’s fifth All-American performance of her career. She finished second at nationals during the indoor season last year. Tripp continues to hold the indoor school record by a quarter of an inch over Xavier with her career best resting at 49-1.

 

On the track, Andria Scheese earned a pair of All-American honors in record-setting fashion. In the first race of the day, Scheese placed fourth in the mile with a school record run of 4:57.00; tackling the 5:00.64 she set in the semifinal round on Friday. Scheese entered the meet ranked seventh in the NAIA but sliced more than five seconds off her seed time to crack the five-minute barrier.

 

Running her second mile of the day, Scheese anchored the women’s distance medley relay team to a third-place result with an 11:55.10. Having cut 13 second off the school record in the semifinals, the quartet of Lauren Moran, Stephanie Persaud, Linsie Michels and Scheese lowered the mark by another five seconds to hold off Black Hills State (11:57.99) for the bronze-medal finish.  Simon Fraser University, the seven-time defending champions, held off Azusa Pacific 11:44.83 to 11:45.40 for gold.

 

Junia Limage captured the final All-American honor for the CU women’s team with a sixth-place result in the 1,000-meter run with a 2:57.53. Limage came into the championships ranked sixth overall with a season-best 2:57.25.

 

Moments after Limage’s run, Cory Pena took home the first of two All-American honors for the men’s team with a 2:28.05 in the 1,000 to take fourth place. Embry-Riddle’s Sam Vasquez powered to an unchallenged 2:24.62 for the event title with Dakota State’s Andy Coy taking the runner-up spot with a 2:27.41. Pena ran the sixth fastest time in the prelims with a 2:27.32, a time which dominated his season-best national qualifier of 2:28.94.    

 

Concordia’s final All-America performance came from Ben Cogdill I the pole vault. After passing on the opening height, Cogdill cleared 15-3 on his first attempt before a successful vault on his second attempt with the bar set at 15-9. Cogdill missed all three attempts at 16-2 3/4 but won the tie break over three other performers due to fewer overall misses. Oklahoma Baptist’s Juan Gonzales cleared his first attempt at the height to earn the tiebreaker against Cogdill for fourth place. Eastern Oregon’s Robbie Haynie, who also won the heptathlon on Friday, took first with a 16-8 3/4 leap

 

Competing in his second event of the meet, Branko Djurcic landed nine inches shy of the top six competitors in the triple jump but manages to score a school record in the event with a distance of 47-11 3/4 to erase DeAndre Burton’s 2009 record of 27-5 3/4.   

 

Competing in the final individual event on the track for the Cavs, Sami Andrews placed 11th overall with an 18:02.70, a time 14 seconds offer her time in the semifinals. Alice Taylor, a returning All-American with a sixth-place result at nationals last year, did not finish after posting the No. 3 time in the prelims.

 

 

 

 

1,000 (Finals): 4. Cory Pena, 2:28.05. 1,000 (Semis): 1. (Section 3) Cory Pena, 2:27.32. 3,000 (Semis): 9. (Section 1) Marcus Nelson, 8:40.96. High Jump: T8. Branko Djuricic, 6-6 3/4 (2.00m). Pole Vault: 5. Ben Cogdill, 15-9 (4.80m). Triple Jump: 9. Branko Djuricic, 47-11 3/4 (14.62m). Shot: T10. Eric Whalen, 50-8 3/4 (15.46m). Weight Throw: 6. Bo Johnson, 60-11 1/2 (18.58m).

 

60 (Semis): 5. (Heat 2) Stephanie Persaud, 7.74. 60 (Prelims): 3. (Heat 1) Stephanie Persaud, 7.72. 60 Hurdles (Semis): 4. (Heat 1) Eunice Makinde, 8.98. 60 Hurdles (Prelims): 4. (Heat 1) Eunice Makinde, 8.92. 1,000 (Finals): 6. Junia Limage, 2:57.53. 1,000 (Semis): 3. (Section 1) Junia Limage, 2:58.28. Mile (Finals): 4. Andria Scheese, 4:57.00. Mile (Semis): 2. (Section 1) Andria Scheese, 5:00.64; 5. (Section 2) Lauren Moran, 5:08.39. 5,000 (Finals): 11.Sami Andrews, 18:02.70; DNF: Alice Taylor. 5,000 (Semis): 3. (Section 1) Alice Taylor, 17:23.11; 8. (Section 1) Sami Andrews, 17:46.65; 16. (Section 2) Samantha Robert, 18:52.14. Shot: 1.Kayla Xavier, 49-0 3/4 (14.95m); 4. Katherine Tripp, 46-1 1/2 (14.06m); 21. Gabriella Dixson, 41-6 (12.65m). Weight Throw: 6. Gabriella Dixson, 55-1 (16.79m); 19. Amanda Federici, 51-6 1/4 (15.70m); 21. Sharayah Kenady, 51-3 3/4 (15.64m); 28. Kayla Xavier, 49-11 1/4 (1.22m). Distance Medley Relay (Finals): 3. Concordia, 11:55.10 (Lauren Moran, Stephanie Persaud, Linsie Michels, Andria Scheese). Distance Medley Relay (Semis): 1. (Section 3) Concordia, 12:00.50 (Linsie Michels, Stephanie Persaud, Junia Limage, Andria Scheese). Heptathlon: 12. Dominique Jacoy, 3,103[9.75; 4-7 3/4 (1.42m); 34-9 1/2 (10.60m); 16-4 1/2 (4.99m); 2:30.72].