Five School Records, Three NCAA Provisional Qualifiers for 49ers at Last Chance Meets
March 10, 2008
Charlotte, N.C. - The Charlotte 49ers track and field teams sent limited squads to the Alex Wilson Invitational Last Chance Meet at Notre Dame and the Virginia Tech Last Chance meets over the weekend, posting very successful showings at both events.
At the Alex Wilson Invitational, where the "last chance" distance running event fields were the most competitive across the country, juniors Aja Jackson and Chase Eckard both recorded provisional qualifying marks in the 800m of 2:07.39 and 1:50.10 respectively. Both lowered their own school records with Jackson shattering the old record by nearly 2 1/2 seconds. Freshman Amanda Goetschius set a new school record in the 5000m with a 17:01.24 time, qualifying her for the USA Track & Field National Junior Championships in Columbus, Ohio in June. Junior Ryan Jank also lowered the 5000m school record formerly held by NCAA All American Kenneth Svendsen with a time of 14:28.78. Freshman Dakota Lowery lowered his lifetime best mile time to 4:13.36 which qualifies him for the USA Juniors as well and ranks him 4th all time for Charlotte. Finally Adu Dentamo ran a season's best 8:22.76 in the 3000m; the junior maintains his spot at 3rd all time.
"These distance runners had a fantastic meet," head coach Bob Olesen said. "Aja and Chase continue to improve and will continue to make school history as we transition to the outdoor season."
The Virginia Tech Last Chance meet featured the sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers. Junior Pat Springs continued her successful indoor long jump campaign with another victory in a tough field with a provisional qualifier and school record of 20'5.75" (6.24m) a distance she actually covered on two of her six attempts on the day.
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"Pat has had a terrific indoor season showing steady improvement with numerous victories, the school record and NCAA qualifying jumps," Olesen said. "All of her jumps today were over 6 meters for the first time ever. She will enter the outdoor season with a lot of momentum to return to the outdoor NCAAs and a very legitimate shot at qualifying for the Olympic Trials in June."
Also in the women's sand pit at Virginia Tech sophomore Danielle Brown had a career day in the triple jump with a lifetime best 40'2.75 (12.26m) with all 6 of her attempts over her previous lifetime best entering the meet leaping over 3 spots on the all time list up to 3rd. In the men's long jump senior LaMarcus Outing made his last collegiate indoor meet a good one with a big personal best 24'5.5" (7.46m) improving the mark that ranks him 3rd all time for Charlotte. Two additional personal bests came from Lamarra Currie and Dewayne Chandler with Currie at 7.47 in the 60m and Chandler 21.90 in the 200m moving him up to 4th all time. Lajarsha Moses, Jason Moore and Korel Mack all had solid days with near personal or season's bests.
"We had a terrific weekend with qualifying marks, school records, and personal bests but after reviewing meets across the country it appears as though none of our four provisional qualifiers will make the cut into the national championship," Olesen said. "Pat and Aja will finish ranked about 22nd and 25th with Chase in the higher 20's and Lamarra in the mid 30's. All the same we've had a great indoor season with two conference team championships eight women's and five men's school records and many personal bests including 54 women's and 47 men's top ten all-time performances, all indicating continued success as we move to the outdoor season."
The Last Chance meets are so called as they are the last opportunity to achieve qualifying marks for the Indoor NCAA Championship March 14-15 at the University of Arkansas. Athletes can achieve an automatic qualifying performance in their event which will guarantee them a spot in the national field or may achieve a provisional qualifying performance--but in this case must have that top performance of the season remain in approximately the top 16 in the nation in order to be selected to the nationals.
Final selections for the Indoor NCAA Championships will be announced the evening on Monday, March 10th.
The track and field teams will kick off the outdoor season at home with the annual 49er Classic Thursday-Saturday, March 20-22
