KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A pair of Indiana State juniors punched their ticket to Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday afternoon with Felisha Johnson finishing fifth and Mary Theisen ninth in the women's shot put at the 2012 NCAA East Preliminary on the campus of the University of North Florida.
Two other members of the Sycamore women's team, junior Stacia Weatherford and junior Leeann Michl, advanced to the quarterfinals of the respective events with great showings in the preliminaries. Weatherford ran 58.11 to advance to Friday's woman's 400 meter hurdle quarterfinals while Michl inched closer to the school record in the 800 meters as she advanced to Friday's quarterfinal with a time of 2:06.28.
“I am very proud of how our women's team has handled the heat, the great competition, and themselves,” Angela Martin, Indiana State women's track & field coach, said. “I am looking forward to some great competition tomorrow.”
Johnson had the best throw of the shot put competition through the first two throws at 54-feet-6¾-inches (16.63 meters) before Louisville's Khadija Abduliah and Chinwe Okoro along with North Carolina State's Tremanisha Taylor topped that effort in the third round.
Abduliah took the lead with her throw of 56-feet-2-inches (17.12 meters) with Okoro going 55-feet-3¾-inches (16.86 meters) and Taylor 55-feet-0¾-inches (16.77 meters). The three remained in that order at the end of the competition.
Tennessee's Annie Alexander went 54-feet-8-inches (16.66 meters) on her final attempt to bump Johnson out of the fourth spot. Theisen's best throw came in the third round as she went 52-feet-3¾-inches (15.94 meters) and she held down the eighth spot until the final round when Virginia Tech's Valentina Musaric went 53-feet-7-inches (16.33 meters).
“Both were very focused and had great starts,” Angela Martin, Indiana State women's track & field coach, said. “They did just what we wanted them to … be relaxed, have fun, and do what they have already done this season.”
Johnson and Theisen rank second and third, respectively, on ISU's All-Time list behind school record holder Christy Barrett (Sherman) who had a throw of 56-feet-10¾-inches (17.34 meters) back in 1991. Johnson's career best is 55-feet-1½-inches (16.80 meters) which she posted at the EIU Big Blue Classic and Theisen's 52-feet-4½-inches (15.96 meters) which she threw at the MVC Outdoor Championships to finish fourth overall.
Johnson is making her third trip to the NCAA East. The junior was sixth in the hammer and ninth in the shot put at the 2011 NCAA East competition to advance to the NCAA Championships while also competing in the shot put at the 2010 NCAA East where she placed 15th.
She is a three-time Indoor All-American as she won the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championship in the indoor weight throw while finishing fourth in the weight throw and seventh in the shot put at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships. She placed 18th in the shot put at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships and also competed in the hammer throw where she fouled on her first three attempts.
Theisen transferred to Indiana State from Winona State where she won the NCAA Division II national title in the discus. She also earned All-American recognition in the weight throw, shot put and discus during her two years at Winona State. Theisen earned All-American status with a sixth place finish in the shot put and sixth in the weight throw at the 2011 NCAA Division II Indoor Championships as a sophomore. She earned two more as a freshman with an eighth place finish in the indoor shot put and an eighth place finish in the outdoor discus.
Junior Stacia Weatherford finished second in the fifth heat of the women's 400 meter hurdles and posted the sixth fastest time overall as she finished in 58.11 which was just two-tenths off her career best of 57.92 seconds that she ran at the MVC Outdoor Championships in earning All-Conference honors with a second place finish. Tennessee senior Ellen Wortham had the fastest time of the prelims of 55.66.
“Stacia has more in her,” Martin said. “She ran fast with a few rough hurdles but she is motivated.”
Michl ran a personal best 2:06.28 to finish seventh overall and third in a very fast fourth heat, in the opening round of the women's 800 meters. That betters her previous career best of 2:06.67 that she ran at the Auburn Tiger Track Classic and is within two-tenths of a second of the school record held by the current Sycamore women's head coach at 2:06.05.
“This was only her second time running in a big group,” Martin said. “She was patient and then kicked hard to squeeze through to third and automatically advance to the next round. She ran her opening 600 just as fast as she did indoors. This is one record that I wouldn't mind being broken”
Tennessee senior Chanelle Price ran the fastest time of the prelims at 2:04.32.
Michl and Weatherford are making their second trip to the NCAA East as each was a member of the 4x100 meter relay team that competed in the 2010 NCAA East Preliminary.
Sophomore Max Tuttle, competing in his first NCAA East Preliminary, finished 33rd overall in the 400 meter hurdle preliminaries with a time of 53.52 seconds. The top 27 advanced to Friday's quarterfinals which will determine the 12 to advance to the NCAA Finals. Tuttle's career best time came at the MVC Outdoor Championships where he ran 52.49 seconds to earn All-Conference honors with a second place finish. The time is the sixth fastest 400 meter hurdle time in ISU history.
“Max improved on his seed position (45 to 33) but it was not the race we wanted,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach, said. “He overran hurdles three to five but came out of it and finished strong. It was just a little too late to make the second round.”
Senior Jeremiah Vaughan failed to advance in the men's 1,500 meters as he finished in 4:07.77 and 44th overall. Vaughan competed in the same event a year ago and finished 42nd overall. The Sycamore ran a career best 3:45.23 in the event at the Polytan Invitational which is the second fastest time in school history.
“Jeremiah's heat went out very slow so it became a kickers race,” McNichols said. “He made a great move with 400 meters to go but could not hold the position.”
Senior Craig Padgett and junior Albaro Escalera competed in the NCAA East for the first time as they ran in the men's 10,000 meter race with Padgett finishing 26th with a time of 31:07.45 and Escalera 28th with a time of 31:08.82. UNC-Greensboro sophomore Paul Katam was the fastest of the 12 qualifying for the NCAA Finals in Des Moines with a time of 30:05.74.
This was the third 10,000 meter race of the season for both athletes. Padgett won the MVC championship in the event with a time of 31:23.53 just two weeks after setting the school record of 29:38.70 at the Mt. SAC Relays. Escalera was second at the MVC in 31:24.46 as the two Sycamores pulled away on the final two laps. The junior ran ISU's third fastest 10,000 meters at the Mt. SAC Relays of 29:55.38.
Friday's competition begins at 10:00 a.m. (ET) with Brandon Pounds going in the hammer throw. Richelle Kimble begins her pole vault competition at 11 a.m. with Johnson and Theisen returning to compete in the discus at 3 p.m. Ernest Rollins has his date with the triple jump at 4:30 p.m. while Greggmar Swift and Maurice Lyke run in the 110 meter hurdle prelims at 5 p.m. The women's 800 meter quarterfinals will run at 7:15 p.m. with Weatherford in the 400 meter hurdle quarterfinals at 7:45 p.m.
Dustin Betz wraps up competition for ISU on Friday as he competes in the 3,000 meter steeplechase at 8:50 p.m.
Johnson returns to compete in her third event of the NCAA prelims, the women's hammer, at 2 p.m. Saturday with Major Clay and Jonathan Christensen going in the men's high jump at 5 p.m. The quarterfinals of the men's 1,500 meter run will go off at 6:30 p.m. with the quarterfinals of the 110 meter hurdles set for 7:05 p.m.
