T&F Seventh at Lee Calhoun Memorial

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T&F Seventh at Lee Calhoun Memorial

April 11, 2009 – The Ashford University men’s and women’s track teams wrapped up competition at the two-day Lee Calhoun Memorial in Macomb, Ill., hosted by Western Illinois University. Both the men’s and women’s squads tied for seventh out of 10 teams. The AU women scored 18 points to tie Chicago State and the Saints’ men earned 20 points to tie with Midwest Collegiate Conference counterpart St. Ambrose University.

“Today was a great day for the Saints,” said Ashford Head Coach Tyson Graham. “We were very happy with both the men’s and women’s squad and it looks like things are starting to come together. We have three more weeks of the outdoor season and know we are going to see some huge improvements over the next three weeks as training changes."

The following account is a summary of Ashford’s performance on day two by Graham:

After setting the school record in the 10,000-meter run the night before, sophomore Erika Jakobsen set another school record in the 3,000 steeplechase, clocking in at 13:14.85. It’s probably the most difficult double in all of track and field, but she did it in style with personal records in both events.

Laura Minertz also had a great day as a member of the 4x200 the previous night and came back in the 200-meter dash, setting a new personal record and breaking into the 26’s for the first time. She ran a personal best of 26.82 in the event becoming only the second Saint ever to break 27:00 in the event. She also competed in the 100-meter dash, just barely missing her PR by running a 13.19.

Kim Fabry and Karissa Turner both registered personal records in the 400-meter dash with Kim running a 1:05.99 and coming in closely behind Turner with a time of 1:07.09. Fabry also scored in the long jump with a 4.75m mark.

Brooke Funk came back from appendicitis and did well in the shot put and discus while Alexis Turner threw the javelin with a throw of 16.31m.

Natalie Solms also scored points, clearing 1.50m again in the high jump -- good enough for sixth place in a tie-breaker.

The women did a great job today. We are excited to see so many personal records today and to see the injury bug slowly going away we hope to be full strength again in two weeks or so.

On the men’s side, Caleb Snyder returned to the long jump pit and although rusty, managed to get one jump off with a 6.28m jump to advance to the finals. We didn’t go full out in long jump today. We took some scratches on purpose to work on approaches and form more than anything. We didn’t want to risk injuring his hamstring on the first day back. Caleb is being smart about his injury and even skipped out on finals. He managed to get eighth place in his only jump.

Caleb was also part of the 4x400 meter relay that ran a very respectable 3:29.65. Franklin Barnes, Ademola Are, and Andrew Drinkall made up the rest of the squad.

Drinkall also ran a great 400-meter run today finishing with a 52.04 which was the best time of the year so far for Andrew. Robert Phillips (52.82) and Ademola Are (53.99) followed close behind also setting personal records for the year. Drinkall and Phillips also completed in the 200-meter run doing some speed work while Arvell Barginear worked on his endurance trying out the 1,500-meter run for the first time and running the 800 meter.

In the field events freshman Austin (A.J.) Smith continued scoring, earning fourth place in the high jump with a 1.85m leap. He also threw javelin 36.30m while freshman Aaron Yerk (37.38m) and Keven Griffin (46.18m) both set personal records in the event.

Keven and AJ are improving daily in the javelin. Keven is throwing over 10 meters further than last year off of small approaches. (Throws Coach) Sheena James has been doing great work. Griffin (4.0m) and Yerk (3.85m) also placed in pole vault jumping respectable heights. While the heights were not as high as previous weeks, technically speaking, I see huge improvements from Keven. His last attempt today was stellar, but unfortunately we had the standards too close and missed his final attempt.

Yerk also set a personal record in the 110-meter hurdles today and we were excited for him. Also in the hurdles was Franklin Barnes who was on pace to be at Nationals in the event. He had a great start and was almost a full hurdle ahead of the competition out of the blocks. As the hurdle event went on, his trail leg hit the ninth hurdle, tripping him up and causing him to stumble. Although he didn’t fall, by the time he gathered himself he had lost a second or two to finish at 16.25. It was a great race for Franklin except that ninth hurdle. We are targeting around 15.0 to qualify nationally.

T&F Seventh at Lee Calhoun Memorial

April 11, 2009 – The Ashford University men’s and women’s track teams wrapped up competition at the two-day Lee Calhoun Memorial in Macomb, Ill., hosted by Western Illinois University. Both the men’s and women’s squads tied for seventh out of 10 teams. The AU women scored 18 points to tie Chicago State and the Saints’ men earned 20 points to tie with Midwest Collegiate Conference counterpart St. Ambrose University.

“Today was a great day for the Saints,” said Ashford Head Coach Tyson Graham. “We were very happy with both the men’s and women’s squad and it looks like things are starting to come together. We have three more weeks of the outdoor season and know we are going to see some huge improvements over the next three weeks as training changes."

The following account is a summary of Ashford’s performance on day two by Graham:

After setting the school record in the 10,000-meter run the night before, sophomore Erika Jakobsen set another school record in the 3,000 steeplechase, clocking in at 13:14.85. It’s probably the most difficult double in all of track and field, but she did it in style with personal records in both events.

Laura Minertz also had a great day as a member of the 4x200 the previous night and came back in the 200-meter dash, setting a new personal record and breaking into the 26’s for the first time. She ran a personal best of 26.82 in the event becoming only the second Saint ever to break 27:00 in the event. She also competed in the 100-meter dash, just barely missing her PR by running a 13.19.

Kim Fabry and Karissa Turner both registered personal records in the 400-meter dash with Kim running a 1:05.99 and coming in closely behind Turner with a time of 1:07.09. Fabry also scored in the long jump with a 4.75m mark.

Brooke Funk came back from appendicitis and did well in the shot put and discus while Alexis Turner threw the javelin with a throw of 16.31m.

Natalie Solms also scored points, clearing 1.50m again in the high jump -- good enough for sixth place in a tie-breaker.

The women did a great job today. We are excited to see so many personal records today and to see the injury bug slowly going away we hope to be full strength again in two weeks or so.

On the men’s side, Caleb Snyder returned to the long jump pit and although rusty, managed to get one jump off with a 6.28m jump to advance to the finals. We didn’t go full out in long jump today. We took some scratches on purpose to work on approaches and form more than anything. We didn’t want to risk injuring his hamstring on the first day back. Caleb is being smart about his injury and even skipped out on finals. He managed to get eighth place in his only jump.

Caleb was also part of the 4x400 meter relay that ran a very respectable 3:29.65. Franklin Barnes, Ademola Are, and Andrew Drinkall made up the rest of the squad.

Drinkall also ran a great 400-meter run today finishing with a 52.04 which was the best time of the year so far for Andrew. Robert Phillips (52.82) and Ademola Are (53.99) followed close behind also setting personal records for the year. Drinkall and Phillips also completed in the 200-meter run doing some speed work while Arvell Barginear worked on his endurance trying out the 1,500-meter run for the first time and running the 800 meter.

In the field events freshman Austin (A.J.) Smith continued scoring, earning fourth place in the high jump with a 1.85m leap. He also threw javelin 36.30m while freshman Aaron Yerk (37.38m) and Keven Griffin (46.18m) both set personal records in the event.

Keven and AJ are improving daily in the javelin. Keven is throwing over 10 meters further than last year off of small approaches. (Throws Coach) Sheena James has been doing great work. Griffin (4.0m) and Yerk (3.85m) also placed in pole vault jumping respectable heights. While the heights were not as high as previous weeks, technically speaking, I see huge improvements from Keven. His last attempt today was stellar, but unfortunately we had the standards too close and missed his final attempt.

Yerk also set a personal record in the 110-meter hurdles today and we were excited for him. Also in the hurdles was Franklin Barnes who was on pace to be at Nationals in the event. He had a great start and was almost a full hurdle ahead of the competition out of the blocks. As the hurdle event went on, his trail leg hit the ninth hurdle, tripping him up and causing him to stumble. Although he didn’t fall, by the time he gathered himself he had lost a second or two to finish at 16.25. It was a great race for Franklin except that ninth hurdle. We are targeting around 15.0 to qualify nationally.