Knights Break Records at Sunshine Open
Randy Dalzell
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. – The WPU Knights track and field teams got out of town on Friday afternoon, escaping the snow and ice that shut down most of the greater Portland area, taking three athletes down to the Westmont College Sunshine Open in Santa Barbara, CA. Those three athletes all broke school records on Saturday with Jett Pharn-Cromb leading the way by not only breaking the school record twice, but also winning the 60m dash and moving up to tie for a #5 national ranking in the event.
"We got delayed at Portland Friday morning because the snow and ice were already coming down pretty good when we were waiting to board our plan, so we thought we might not get to go, but boy are we glad we got to go! We not only got to the meet, but all three of our athletes broke school records and we got another sure national qualifier out of the meet," said Head Coach
Randy Dalzell.
The Rundown
Jett Pharn-Cromb started things off by winning his preliminary heat in a new personal best and school record 6.87 seconds, then turned right around in the 60m final and won with another personal best and new school record of 6.82 seconds. That time ties him for 5
th in the nation according to the latest rankings and will almost surely qualify him for the NAIA National Indoor Track and Field Championships three weeks from now in South Dakota. "The sunshine and warm weather was a huge plus for me at this meet. I spent a lot of time studying film on my start and running form this week and that seems to have paid off as well. It was great to get a few more races in and get a faster time to secure my spot for nationals," said Pharn-Cromb.
The other two athletes on the trip also had good performances, with Indya Price running both the 600m and the 1000m races back to back, breaking the school record in the first event and winning the second event. Price broke Kendel White's 600m record of 1:44.60 with a new record of 1:42.29, then came back just a little bit later and won the 1000m race, but did not break her own school record of 3:07.22 that she had set the week before in Idaho. "Indya was in a race with some very good ladies in the 600m and went out a little too hard, more like at 400m race pace, and that made the last 200m of her race very difficult, but this was her first time running this event and it's hard to judge effort, so she just chased the leaders and in this case it was a little too much for her to get the best performance she could have. She will learn how to run this race and will run faster with a better feel for the pacing next time. Her comeback victory in the 1000m not long after this showed her toughness and was a good workout by doubling those two events back to back," said Coach Dalzell.
Not to be left out of the record breaking, freshman Kynzie DeLeon, ran a new personal best and school record of 10:49.49 in the women's 3000m to finish 9
th out of over 40 runners. She broke Leah Ballard's old record of 10:53.38 from 2009. "Kynzie ran a very smart and controlled race, starting in the back and passing over half the field in running a new personal best. She was ranked 21
st out the entrants and finished 9
th, which showed that she over-performed compared to others in the same race," said Coach Dalzell.
Deeper Look
Brittany Coleman and Jett Pharn-Cromb are shoe in to get into nationals in the women's triple jump and the men's 60m with teammates not far from qualifying themselves.
Flash Forward
The Knights will head back over to Idaho next weekend for the last chance to get more qualifiers for the indoor national meet.