GCU Completes Busy Weekend with Impressive Marks
1/19/2013 6:10:00 PM
The Grand Canyon University men's and women's track and field squads completed their busy weekend, where they split time between Albuquerque, N.M. at the Cherry & Silver Collegiate Invitational and Flagstaff, Ariz. at the NAU Invitational.
GCU athletes collected 14 more provisional marks today to bring their two-day total to 24and also added their first automatic qualifier to the list.
Dario Horvat raced to a top-finish in the 60-meter dash preliminaries while posting an automatic qualifying time of 6.75 seconds, the second-fastest time among Division II athletes this season. He then followed that with an impressive 6.69 second run to win the finals and claim the fastest time in the country.
Jennifer Dowty also posted a provisional mark in the event with a time of 57.44 seconds.
In the same event on the men's side, Stephan Bullard posted the top mark of 47.97 seconds, a provisional qualifier and the fifth-best in the country. Oliver Smith was just behind him with a provisional time of 48.01 seconds, the sixth-fastest nation-wide.
In the women's 60-meter dash finals, Brianne Kee posteda provisional timeof 7.70 seconds, followed by Samantha Bogatz with 7.72 seconds. Keealso ran the event in 7.68 seconds in her preliminary heat.
Amber Yingling and Jessica Yates both posted provisional marks in the women's triple jump, with leaps of 11.91 meters (39 feet, 1 inch) and 11.83 meters (38 feet, 9.75 inches), respectively. Yingling surpassed her previous long to claim the eighth-best in the country.
In the same event on the men's side, Kevin Lashley collected a provisional qualifying leap of 14.76 meters (48 feet, 5.25 inches), the seventh-best mark in the nation.
Maria Kropf posted a provisional time of 8.91 seconds in the women's 60-meter hurdles preliminaries.
GCU's 4x400-meter relay men's squad consisting of Bullard, Josh Ralston, Smith and Ramon Cooper won the event with a provisional time of 3:14.96, the third-fastest relay in the country. Similar to last week's meet, the race was tight, with UTEP crossing the line just .02 seconds behind the 'Lopes.
On the women's side in the 4x400-meter relay, GCU's squad of Julia Wild,Shavine Hodges and Dowty recorded a provisional time of 3:53.56.
From last night's men's long jump event in Albuquerque, the 'Lopes had three athletes reach the provisional qualifying mark and finish in the top-10 of nearly 30 jumpers: Lashley (7.40 meters; 24 feet, 3.5 inches), AAron Hill(7.18 meters; 23 feet, 6.75 inches) and Cooper (7.01 meters; 23 feet). Lashley's jump tied for the third-best in the nation.
The 'Lopes also collected a number of top-five finishes at the NAU Invitational in Flagstaff, including Pauline Muiruri in the one mile run, Jessica Ernst in the pole vault, Vanessa Levy in the shot put and weight throw, Tearra Price in the 60-meter hurdles, Jordyn Woodke in the triple jump, Kai Gamble in the 800-meter run, Cesar Sanabria in the one mile run, Brandon Pineda and Kyle Jervis in the weight throw, Pineda in the shot put, and Joel Fraser and Andrew Peterson in the pole vault.
Levy's mark of 17.01 meters (55 feet, 9.75 inches) in the weight throw is also a provisional qualifier. Pineda's 15.85 meter toss in the shot put (52 feet) was a provisional mark and also gave him a first place finish in the event.
GCU will not be away from Albuquerque long as they will head back for the New Mexico Invitational next weekend.
