Three More Tigers Earn Spots at NCAA Championships
Tally of Tigers heading to Eugene finishes at six
Austin,
Tx. - Clouds still hung over Mike A. Myers Stadium this morning as the
Tigers began their final day of the NCAA West Preliminary Round.
The weather dissipated in the afternoon, however, leaving the weather
clear for three more NCAA Championship qualifiers and an impressive PR
performance in the pole vault by junior Kyle Wessel.
The first
of today's qualifiers was senior Laura Roxberg, who took the lead early
in the first heat and cruised to a 4:15.03 finish for fifth overall,
third in her heat. That time is only two seconds shy of her
4:13.53 School Record, ran earlier this season at the Drake
Relays. This will be Roxberg's second-consecutive NCAA Outdoor
Championship appearance in the 1500m.
Sophomore Kearsten Peoples
was the Tigers' second athlete today to punch her ticket to the NCAA
Championships. The School Record Holder in both the shot put and
discus bounced back from yesterday's rough start to place second in
today's shot put competition with a top throw of 17.17m (56-4).
She will enter the Championships in Eugene, OR, ranked fourth in the
event with her SEC-winning mark of 17.80m (58-4.75).
Senior Dan
Quigley brought the meet home for the Tigers squad with the 5000m run,
the second-to-last event of the Preliminary Round. He tucked into
the front pack from the start, moving between fifth and seventh place
throughout the race before finishing out in sixth. Quigley's
13:51.24 was enough to earn him the second-to-last spot in the
Championships for the West Prelim. Another
impressive performance was at the hands of junior Kyle Wessel, who made
a drastic improvement on his incoming 46th-place ranking after besting
his 5.10m (16-8.75) PR by two bars. Wessel was up and over
opening height in two attempts, then made quick work of the second
before up facing the first PR mark of 5.20m (17-0.75). He wasted
no time, sailing over the height on the first attempt to make PR no. 1
of the day. Then Wessel faced the 5.30m (17-4.50) bar, missing on
the first two attempts before making the mark on his final try.
Wessel finished 21st overall in the competition, moving up 25 spots
from his pre-meet ranking.
Other performances for the Tigers on
the final day include senior Jacob Bullinger (22nd) and sophomore Brian
Duncan (27th) in the hammer throw, sophomore Macauley Garton in the
javelin (13th), freshman Tony Carodine (24th) and sophomre Jonathan
Ilori (27th) in the triple jump, sophomore Jill Rushin (20th) and
senior Cortni Ervin (32nd) in the shot put, senior Bethany Pfeiffer
(18th) and junior Hailey Twietmeyer (23rd) in the javelin, and senior
Bailey Belvis (40th) in the 5000m run. NCAA Championship Qualifiers Name Event Malcolm Pennix Long Jump Markesh Woodson 100m Dash Katrine Haarklau Javelin Laura Roxberg 1500m Run Kearsten Peoples Shot Put Dan Quigley 5000m Run
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