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Another season of outdoor track has come and gone, as has the 2018 annual NCAA Division Two National Championships, held this year at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina. After three days of competition May 24-26, the men and women outdoor track and field teams came home with many individual wins. Overall, the men placed eighth and the women placed thirteenth.
With 28 athletes qualifying for the annual championships, the teams were excited to see the outcomes.
Day one, freshman Haven Lander started out the action for the women, tying for third place in the women’s pole vault with a clearance of 12 feet, 7.5 inches. Sophomore Brianna Cooks also stayed strong for the women, finishing 11th overall in the hammer throw. The women’s team for the 400-meters made a time of 45.79 seconds, but did not advance to the finals. For the men, sophomore Levi Wyrick placed 12th in the hammer throw. Additionally, junior NaRon Rollins advanced to the Saturday finals in the 100-meters. The team began rocky on the first day out, but the action got much stronger day two for Pitt State as a whole.
Day two came with many struggles but many successes as well, especially for junior Justice Burks with a third place finish in the 110-meter hurdles. Another outstanding hurdle for the team was from seniors Bo Farrow, Emilee Iverson, and junior Jared Page all earning All-America honors. Farrow ranked sixth in the men’s discus throw while Iverson ended with a tie for eighth place in the women’s high jump. Page ended with a sixth place finish in the men’s decathlon with a score of 7,051 points, followed by senior Tanner McNutt who placed 14th with a score of 6,084 points. Other large winners for the day included sophomore Ian Duncan placing 17th overall in the men’s high jump as well as freshman Asia Anderson placing 12th in the women’s triple jump.
The final day saw great success for Rollins who became the runner up for 100 meters with a time of 10.22 seconds and placed third in the 200-meters with a time of 20.59 seconds. Senior Jasmine Smith brought home a third place win in the women’s shot-put along with junior Jena Black who finished in eighth place. Sanders succeeded again with an eighth place finish in javelin alongside senior Omar Lewis, who finished eighth in the men’s shot put. Completing the action for the competition for Pitt State was senior Kelsey Lewis who received sixth place in the 200-meters with a time of 24 seconds.
In addition to the other overall awards given out during the competition, Wyrick received the annual Elite 90 award. This award recognizes students competing at each finals site with the highest GPA for the year. Additionally, this student must be at least a sophomore in standing and must have competed in his or her sport for at least two years. The goal is to recognize somebody who is at the highest level both physically and academically, and this year Wyrick won out for Division Two track and field. He received the award May 23 at the beginning of the championships before the competition began.
In total, the men received 31.5 points in the competition while the women received 15.75 points for their efforts.
