Thursday, May 23, 2013

Wally Ellenson Qualifies for NCAA Championships on First Day of West Region Meet in Austin, TX


Minnesota men's high jumper Wally Ellenson qualified for the NCAA Championships on the first day of competition at the 2013 NCAA DI Men's Outdoor Track and Field West  Region Championships in Austin, TX.  Ellenson cleared 7'1"(2.16 meters) to tie for seventh in the high jump, just short of his personal best of 2.17 meters set earlier this year at the Hamline Invitational.  The top eight jumpers all cleared the same height with the order of finish decided by fewer misses.

Teammate Danny Schiller cleared 6'9.5"(2.07 meters) to tie for 33rd. Minnesota’s 800 meters duo of Harun Abda and Travis Burkstrand both advanced in Thursday’s preliminary races. Abda finished first in his heat and third overall with a time of 1:49.47 while Burkstrand finished second in his heat and ninth overall with a time of 1:49.64. 

John Simons also advanced in the 1,500 meter run preliminaries with a season-best time of 3:45.31. The Hartland, WI, native finished fourth in his heat and 13th overall to move on to Saturday’s semifinals. Alex Brend and Nick Hutton failed to advance in Friday’s 1,500 meter run preliminaries with times of 3:49.66 and 3:54.99, respectively. Jacob Capek also was unable to advance after posting a time of 47.47 in the 400  prelims.

Minnesota’s trio of discus throwers was unable to advance in the meet’s first event on Friday. Dominique Howard paced the Gophers  with a top throw of 171'8"(52.33 meters), followed by  Luke Johnson(163'5/49.80 meters) and Justin Barber (162'11"/49.80 meters).  

For the women, Megan Geyen qualified for the semifinals of the 400 finishing third in her heat in 54.02.  In the 800 Alena Brooks(2:07.59) and Te' Shon Adderly(2:07.73) qualified for the semis by finishing second and third, respectively, in their heat.  Todea-Kay Willis tied for 20th in the long jump with a leap of 20'.25"(6.10m). Jeri Johnson-Chambers tied for 20th in the hammer throw(190'2"/57.96m), and Dvin Stanford was 24th(189'1"/57.63m). Liz Berkholtz finished 30th in the 10K in 35:11.12. Full results by event are HERE.

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