NU's Jonathan Ferguson headed to the NAIA indoor nationals again
Ferguson Hits NAIA Qualifier in UW Meet
SEATTLE, Wash. - Northwest University sophomore Jonathan Ferguson from Pleasant Hill, Ore., got off to a great start to the indoor season running an NAIA qualifying time of 2:32.43 in the men's 1000m run at the UW Indoor Preview meet this morning in the Dempsey Indoor Facility. Jonathan placed 14th overall against NCAA Division I competition from the UW, Oregon, and Stanford finishing in front of competitors from Concordia and SPU. This is the same event Ferguson qualified in for the NAIA Indoor Nationals last year.
Eagle Joanna Sowers of Lacey, Wash., ran a 3:04.87 in the women's 1000m running against PAC12 and CCC competitors. She placed 17th overall getting edged out for 16th by just .50 of a second by Concordia's Sarah Whybark.
Ericka McDaniel (Kenmore, Wash.) took part in the women's 800m run and ran a 2:25.94 in the University of Washington meet against NCAA Division I, II, and III comeptition plus runners from the CIS D-1 in British Columbia. McDaniel finished 7th in her heat.
"This was the best opening day for the group," said Mark Mandi, NU head coach. "Jonathan qualifying is a good sign becuase it's so early in the season and he's already running as well as he did last year. Joanna looked strong and felt she had a lot left. She just missed hitting the national qualifying mark, but I'm confident she is on her way to having her best indoor season ever. Ericka ran the 800m for the first time and gave it a good effort. Her specialty is the 400m dash but we decided to see what she could do in the 800m. She has all the physical and mental tools if she decides to focus more on that event."