GENEVA, Ohio – Eastern Oregon University men’s and women’s track and field team had a solid day on Day two of the NAIA Indoor National Championships. EOU claimed one National Championship as Talitha Fagen won the women’s pole vault and claimed four All-American honors on the day.
Talitha Fagen claimed the first NAIA Championship for Eastern Oregon in 2014 by winning the Women’s Pole Vault. Fagen cleared a height of 3.83 meters (12-6 ¾) to claim the championship. In the process of winning the national title, Fagen broke her school record by 5 ¼ inches.
Travis Simpson finished third in the high jump as he cleared 2.09 meters (6-10 ¼) to earn third place. The top three finishers cleared 2.09 meters and places were determined by who had misses in the previous rounds. The third place finish earned Simpson All-American honors. By clearing 2.09 meters, Simpson broke his personal best by four centimeters.
In the 1,000 meter run, Hans Roelle broke the school record and won his heat to advance to tomorrow’s finals. Roelle clocked a time of 2:25.51 to break the school record by 1.54 seconds. Roelle had the fastest time in the 1,000 meter preliminaries.
In the men’s weight throw, Brian Wickham finished sixth to earn All-American honors. Wickham recorded a throw of 18.30 meters (60-0 ½). He improved on his season best throw by 3 feet and 2 ½” inches.
After the first event in the heptathlon, Ryan Rosenau looked to make a jump in the standings. In the 60 meter hurdles, Rosenau ran a personal best with a time of 8.50, to finish third in the hurdles. After the 60 meter hurdles, Rosenau jumped from ninth place to sixth place. In the next event, Rosenau pole vaulted 3.85 meters (12-7 ½), which dropped him to seventh in the heptathlon standings. In the last event of the heptathlon, Rosenau rank the 1,000 meter run in a time of 2:48.08 to finish third in the race. He finished the heptathlon in seventh place with 4,863, which earned him All-American honors.
In the women’s 600 meter run, Irene Olivo broke the school record. In heat three, Olivo ran a time of 1:37.74, which was fast enough to break the school record by .24 tenths of a second. Alma Garcilazo was the previous record holder who ran a time of 1:37.98 in 2010.
Saturday, March 8 is the final day of the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships. Events on the final day start at 9:00 a.m. PT. The first event that will EOU will participate in is the Men’s Triple Jump and the Women’s High Jump, which starts at 10:30 a.m. PT.