The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Related Articles
The Pittsburg State women’s track and field team tied for tenth place with 19 points at the NCAA DII Indoor Championships from Thursday, Mar. 11 through Saturday, Mar. 13.
Grand Valley State University won the championship with a total of 93 three points and Minnesota State placed second with 40 points.
London Futch, junior in management, finished as the national runner-up in the 400 meters.
“Overall, I feel as though the team did an outstanding job due to the small amount of athletes that we had to go with compared to our competitors,” Futch said.
Haven Lander placed seventh in the pole vault, earning All-American honors in the process. Additionally, Christine Williams raced to an eighth-place finish in the 200 meters and Asia Anderson placed ninth in the women’s long jump.
“Well, our women did really well,” said Head Coach Russ Jewett. “Individually, I think London Futch probably one of the two highlight performances, I would say. She got second place in the 400 meters and… she’d never been to our national championships. (She) did a fantastic job all season really. (She had a) personal best in the final, got under 55 with a school record. (It was) just an awesome competition from her. Trace Mosby had some ups and downs over the year with some things but just really came on strong at the end of the year with conference and especially at nationals— second place in the pentathlon at the national indoor championships with a new personal best as well. So, she had a lifetime best at nationals and you can’t beat that. Christine Williams qualified to nationals and scored a point for us in the 200 meters, that’s awesome. Haven scored a couple points for us in the pole vault. That helped us get tenth place as a team. That was a little subpar for her, but she still fought and gave us a few points that enabled us to finish in the top ten at nationals. So, she’s had a great season as well.”
Some of the same competitors stood out to Futch.
“The DMR did really well in my opinion,” Futch said. “They knew what they had to do, and they competed the whole time. Trace Mosby also did a fantastic job for pentathlon. She was ranked 4th coming in and finished 2nd overall. I would also say myself. I didn’t think I would compete the way that I did and not only beat the school record… but also (become an)… All-American for the 400.”
According to Futch, the coaching staff and the team all put in a lot of effort to get the team to nationals.
“Without the coaching staff and our supportive teammates, us Pitt State track and field athletes wouldn’t have… (had) the opportunity to go to nationals…,” Futch said.
Next up for the women’s track and field team is the Emporia Spring Invitational on Friday, Mar. 19.
“…It’s mainly the women throwers,” Jewett said. “…(They) haven’t thrown the javelin or the discus or the hammer for two years… We’re gonna expect some pretty good performances but mainly just execute and they’ve been practicing for so long. It’s time to get out there and have competition now…”
