SEATTLE-Competing in the distance medley relay for the first time this season, Concordia nabbed NAIA indoor automatic qualifying marks on both the men’s and women’s side at the Husky Invitational held at Dempsey Indoor.

 

The Concordia women set a school record with a 12:14.56, smashing the former mark of 10:28.79 from the 2007 season and easily topping the 10:41 ‘A’ standard for entry to the NAIA Indoor National Championships.

 

The Concordia men set a school record with a 10:17.506, smashing the former mark of 10:28.79 from the 2007 season and topping the 10:20 ‘A’ standard for entry to the NAIA Indoor National Championships in the process.

 

The CU women covered the 4,000-meter total distance in 12:14.56, shy of the school record of 11:55.10, but well under the automatic qualifying time of 12:41.

 

One other school record fell during the two-day invitational as Matthew Clowes cruised to an 8:0505 in the men’s 3,000-meter run. Already the record holder in the 5,000, Clowes snipped nearly five full seconds off the previous mark of 8:10.5 set by former CU All-American Eric Burck.

 

“Eric (Burck) put down a tough record for us so that is a tribute to where Matt’s fitness level is. The fact that he is still improving is exciting to see,” CU head coach Randy Dalzell said.

 

Matching her own school record, NyEma Sims once again owned an event at the Dempsey Indoor. After clocking a school-record tying 7.41 in the prelims of the 60-meter dash, Sims returned with a 7.42 in the finals to claim the fastest time of the day out of 42, mostly NCAA DI, competitors. Sim’s time was nearly a full tenth of a second faster than the next fastest final posting as two runners from Arizona State both turned in a 7.51. Sims has won the 200 at two separate meets at the Dempsey Indoor earlier in the year.

 

“To win one of the top collegiate invitational was simply amazing by NyEma,” Dalzell said.  “And she did it in dominating fashion which shows she is getting stronger.”

 

Gabriella Dixson turned in an individual highlight for the women’s team with an indoor career best in the shot put with a 44-3 1/4 toss and a season best in the weight throw with a 56-8 3/4. Dixson’s weight throw mark only trails her 57-9 3/4 effort from last season at the University of Washington Open last year.

 

Also turning in near season-best performances were Eric Whalen in the men’s shot (52-1 1/4) and Gina Paletta in the women’s 3,000 (10:02.45). The Cavs will continue to compete in Seattle on Sunday as part of the UW Indoor Open.

 

“We will get a great opportunity to run those rare 600 and 1,000 races tomorrow,” Dalzell said. “We will expect to get a number of qualifiers from our middle distance and sprinting crews.”

 

 

Women’s Results

60 (finals): 1. NyEma Sims, 7.42. 60 (pre): 1. NyEma Sims, 7.41. 3,000: 27. Gina Paletta,  10:02.45. Shot: T7. Gabriella Dixson, 46-6 3/4 (14.19m).  Weight Throw: 12. Gabriella Dixson, 56-8 3/4 (17.29m). Distance Medley: 3. Concordia, 12:14.56 (Sarah Whybark, Junia Limage, Natalie Ball, Lauren Moran).

 

Men’s Results

3,000: 18. Matthew Clowes, 8:05.05. Triple Jump: 16. Branko Djuricic, 42-7 (12.98m). Shot: 7. Eric Whalen, 52-1 1/4 (15.88m). Distance Medley: 3. Concordia, 10:17.06 (Cordero Cisneros, Edgar Vazquez, Jasen Brown, Andrew Landstrom).