NAMPA, Idaho – The Eastern Oregon University track and field team hit six NAIA "A" standards and two "B" standards at the Bronco Invitational on Saturday at the Jackson Track in Nampa, Idaho.
Travis Simpson got the Mountaineers track and field team off to the start they wanted in the Bronco Invitational. Simpson, an All-American at last year's Indoor National Championship, was looking to qualify for this year's. In the first event of the day, Simpson hit the NAIA "A" standard of 2.05 meters (6-8 ¾) in the high jump. After clearing 2.05 meters, Simpson cleared 2.10 meters (6-10 ¾) to win the event at the Bronco Invite. This is the third best mark in school history. After clearing 2.10 meters, Simpson attempted seven feet, for the first time in a meet.
Running in the 800 meter run this week,
Hans Roelle qualified for his second event for nationals as he hit the NAIA "A" standard in the 800 meter run. Roelle clocked a time of 1:53.52, to finish two seconds under the auto time. He finished second in the event, behind NCAA Division I Eric Shellhorn of Utah State. Roelle's time of 1:53.52 is the second fastest in the NAIA this season.
Hakeem Belle and
Travis Simpson both moved to first and second, respectively, on EOU's All-Time Indoor triple jump list at the Bronco Invitational. Both Belle and Simpson hit the NAIA "A" standard. Belle recorded a jump of 14.54 meters (47-8 ½) to set the triple jump school record. Simpson followed with a jump of 14.33 meters (47-0 ¼) to reach second on the school's all-time list, only behind Belle. Both Belle and Simpson also competed in the long jump where Belle jumped the sixth farthest on the all-time list, while Simpson was one centimeter off his personal best.
For the second straight week,
Talitha Fagen hit the NAIA "A" standard in the pole vault. Fagen recorded a height of 3.65 meters (11-11 ¾) to finish fifth in the event. Fagen cleared that height on her first attempted before being eliminated at 3.80 meters.
Finishing second in the high jump was
Harley McBride, who hit the NAIA "A" standard for the second consecutive week. McBride entered at 1.60 meters and cleared every bar on her first attempt, until 1.75 meters where she did not clear and was eliminated.
EOU's
Isaac Updike missed out on hitting the auto qualifier in the mile run. Updike finished the race in a time of 1:19.63, for an NAIA "B" standard. He missed the "A" standard by .43 hundredths of a second.
Also hitting the NAIA "B" standard today was
Megan Sullivan. Running in the 400 meter run, Sullivan clocked a time of 58.64, for a sixth place finish and the fastest time in her heat. Sullivan improved her time on the Women's Indoor All-Time list of EOU. She now is .09 tenths of a second behind the third fastest time in EOU school history. Also competing in the 200 meter run, Sullivan clocked a time of 26.01, which is the third fastest all-time at EOU.
In the women's 1,000 meter run Rachelle Roelle had the second best time, 3:14.99, while teammate Haliee Hollingsworth clocked the fifth fastest in the same race, 3:15.39, all time.
The women's 4x400 meter relay team entered the top 10 all-time list, as they finished the race with the tenth fastest time in the event. Running in the event was Sullivan,
Emma Kost,
Kendall Current and
Ashanna Hodges who compiled a time of 4:04.01.
On the men's side, the men's 4x400 meter team of
Taylor Owens,
Tyler Zyph,
Hans Roelle and
Philip Gravatt ran the second fastest time in the event for EOU with a time of 3:23.97.
Also, joining the men's all-time list was
Jason Hendricks and
Tanner Yarbrough in the shot put. Hendricks' throw of 13.90 meters was the eighth best at EOU and Yarbrough's was tenth on the list, 13.84 meters. Yarbrough also went to number 10 on the all-time list in the weight throw where he recorded a throw of 15.43 meters.
The Mountaineers return to action on Jan. 31 when they travel to Seattle, Wash. to participate in the UW Invitational.