More Champions Crowned On Day 2 Of NCAA Meet

NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships continues

WALNUT – Nine individual champions were crowned on the second day of the NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track National Championships and the remaining field for the final day was set as well in action Friday.

The three-day championship meet concludes Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College’s Hilmer Lodge Stadium.

After the first two days, North Dakota State leads the men’s race with 22 points, while Indianapolis has 16, Cal State Bakersfield has 15 and Ashland, Adams State and Angelo State are tied with 14.

In the women’s division, Adams State and Angelo State have 35 points and enter the final day tied for the lead. Abilene Christian is third with 30 points, Cal State Bakersfield is fourth with 28 points and Southern Indiana and South Dakota are tied for fifth with 18 points.

Host Cal Poly Pomona got a bit of good news Friday when Carmen Franklin (So., Sacramento, Loretto HS) qualified for the women’s 800 final by finishing in 2:12.19. Franklin was fifth in her heat and ninth overall to qualify for the nine-woman final. Maria Medina champion decided in heptathlon, decathlon, women’s 3000, women’s triple jump, men’s long jump, women’s pole vault and men’s and women’s discus.

Also competing on Friday for the Broncos were Valerie Henderson (So., Los Angeles, St. Mary’s Academy) and Sean Myrill (Jr., Riverside, Riverside CC). Henderson was 13^th in the prelims of the triple jump with a mark of 36-8 ½, while Myrill was 11^th in the 110 meter hurdle prelims with a time of 14.63.

Nate Schmidt of North Dakota State became a repeat winner in the decathlon with an impressive performance. Schmidt, after taking a large first-day lead, won with 7,460 points to win by 274 points over teammate Andrew Aakre. Chris Randolph of Seattle Pacific was third with 7,030.

Schmidt won a year ago with 7,326.

“It’s obviously pretty fun,” said Schmidt of his second straight decathlon championship. I had a good first day. I’ve always had a big lead on Day 1, that’s kind of been my trademark.”

Brianne Edwards won the heptathlon championship with a total of 5,301 points. Alissa Miller of Angelo State was second with 5,245 points. Edwards completed the final event – the 800 meters – in 2:21.57, scoring 802 points to overtake Miller, who had taken the lead with a 137-02 throw in the javelin.

Edwards, who finished fifth in this event in last year’s championship, was married in July to David Edwards and she credited her husband with helping her to her title this year.

“He helps me keep things in perspective and especially kept me focused on this meet,” Brianne Edwards said. “I felt a lot of pressure coming in as a No. 1 qualifier and I knew Alissa was going to be a strong challenger. We’re both strong in the same events.”

There were seven other individual champions crowned on Friday. Heather Cooksey of Southern Indiana captured the women’s 3000 with a winning time of 9:32.76. Sarah Bouchard of Cal State L.A. was second in 9:38.75, while Emily Mortensen of Adams State was third in 9:39.47. Cooksey was second in the event last year, but ran nearly seven seconds faster than she did a year ago. Her 9:32.76 was her best time of the season.

In the men’s long jump, James Walton of Truman State won the title with a mark of 24-11 ¼, which was just one-quarter inch ahead of second-place Fabian Hutchinson of St. Augustine’s mark of 24-11. Justin Collins of Kutztown University was third with a mark of 24-10 in an extremely tight competition.

Chaunte Mitchell of Cal State Stanislaus, the No. 1 pole vaulter in the nation coming into the meet, won the event with a mark of 12-9 ½. Amanda Frame of Minnesota-Mankato was second at 12-5 ½ and Katie Eckley of Abilene Christian was third with the same height. She became the first Cal State Stanislaus national champion in any sport since 1994.

"I wish I would've jumped 13-2,” Mitchell said. “I was comfortable. Once you jump those heights so much in competition and in practice, it just comes naturally. It felt good (to win the national championship). I was happy when I cleared (at 12-9 ½). I just wanted to improve on my height. I wasn’t trying to beat them.”

Over at Cal Poly Pomona, another California Collegiate Athletic Association student-athlete, Cecilia Barnes of Cal State Bakersfield, won the women’s discus with a toss of 168-3. Teammate April Burton was second with a mark of 165-11, while Mary Wirt of Northwest Missouri was third at 165-0.

In the men’s discus, John Schulte of Ashland won by a hefty six-foot margin with winning toss of 179-07. Isaiah Haines of Western Oregon was second with a mark of 173-11 and Spencer Tyler of Tartleton State was third with a mark of 171-10.

Both discus events were held on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona.

Will Littleton of Angelo State repeated as the men’s high jump champion in quite a battle with runner-up Keith Moffatt of Morehouse College and third-place Ivan Varbanov of Central Missouri State. All three jumpers cleared 7-2 ¼ with Littleton winning because of fewer misses at lower heights. It figured that those three would be battling for the national title. Moffatt had the best mark in the nation coming into the meet with a mark of 7-4 ½, while Varbanov came in with the second-best mark and Littleton with the third.

Stephanie Warren of Abilene Christian posted an impressive win in the women’s triple jump with a mark of 43-4 ¼. She only needed to take three of her six attempts and passed on her final three. Amanda Thieschafer of North Dakota State was second at 42-8 ¼ and Cassandra Olson of North Dakota State was third at 40-7 ¾. Warren came into the meet with a best mark this season of 40-8 ¼.

Complete second-day results are available at www.csupomona.edu/~athletic and click on the NCAA championship logo.

The championship meet will conclude on Saturday will a full day of finals beginning at noon with the women’s javelin. All of Saturday’s events will be held in Mt. San Antonio College’s Hilmer Lodge Stadium.