KEVIN JENISON

GoSycamores.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Indiana State junior Brandon Pounds missed the 2011 outdoor season with a hand injury but has made up for lost time, qualifying for the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Drake University with a fifth place finish in the men's hammer throw at the NCAA East Preliminary Friday.

“I am really pleased with our effort here,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach, said. “In almost every instance we have met or exceeded our ranking coming into the competition. The kids were really focused on the job they had to do and performed admirably.”

Felisha Johnson qualified for the NCAA Finals in her second event Friday as she finished second in the discus. The junior qualified in the shot put on Thursday along with junior teammate Mary Theisen who just missed in the discus with a 14th place finish.

“It's just a little exciting,” Pounds said. “I had a real good series. I was throwing better and it became smoother as the day went on.”

Pounds is the school record holder for the men's hammer throw and posted the second best distance of his ISU career when he sent the hammer 213-feet (64.94 meters) on his fifth attempt. The junior set the ISU record with a throw of 214-feet-4-inches (65.34 meters) at the Auburn Tiger Track Classic earlier this season.

“He did so fantastic,” Erin Gilreath, Indiana State assistant coach in charge of the throws, said. “He is just a tremendous athlete. I could feel that he was getting better and stronger as the competition went along.”

Johnson finished second in the women's discus with a career best throw of 180-feet-6-inches (55.03 meters) which she accomplished on her first attempt. The distance is just three inches short of the school record held by Julie Koebcke of 180-feet-9-inches (55.10 meters) and set in 1995.

Theisen's best throw was 159-feet-8-inches (48.67 meters) which was short of her career best set this year at 170-feet-7-inches (51.99 meters).

Another Sycamore junior had a career best effort during Friday's early action but just missed advancing to the NCAA Finals.

Richelle Kimble cleared a career best height of 13-feet-3½-inches (4.05 meters) which moved her into the top 16. The junior had a couple of good attempts at 13-feet-5¼-inches (4.10 meters) which would have guaranteed her a spot at Drake. However, she just nicked the bar on both attempts and finished tied for 14th.

“Richelle had a grueling two hour and 45 minute competition,” Angela Martin, Indiana State women's track & field coach, said. “She was steady and just missed going to Drake. I am proud of the work she has put in this year. It was her best finish at the preliminaries so far.”

Sophomore Greggmar Swift advanced to the quarterfinals of the men's 110 meter hurdles after winning the second of six heats with a time of 13.75 which was the eighth fastest of the preliminary round. Fellow sophomore Maurice Lyke had a spot in the quarterfinals until the last heat when he was edged out by six hundredths of a second.

“The race was pretty ordinary today,” Swift said. “I slipped a little at the start but made up for it through the middle and slowed down a bit at the end when I knew they were not going to catch me. I am looking to go 13 2 13 3 tomorrow. I ran 13.49 earlier this year and it wasn't a really good race for me but I have the confidence to run fast”.

Lyke came in fourth in the third heat with a career best time of 14.051 and was the first person out of the quarterfinals in 28th place. Michigan sophomore Herman Washington bumped Lyke from the quarterfinals by running 14.00 in the sixth and final heat of the preliminaries. Miami senior Devon Hill had the fastest time in the preliminaries at 13.36.

“I could have cleaned up the last couple of hurdles,” Lyke said. “But this has been a great learning experience and I have a lot more races to run in my future.”

One athlete that concluded his collegiate career Friday was senior Ernest Rollins who placed 26th in the triple jump with a distance of 49-feet-1-inch (14.96 meters), short of his career best of 51-feet-8 ½-inches (15.76 meters) accomplished at the 2012 MVC Outdoor Championships.

Two 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 Thursday. However, only one will advance to the NCAA Finals.

Weatherford came in third in the third heat of the women's 400 meter hurdle quarterfinals to automatically qualify for the NCAA Finals with a time of 58.03. That was the eighth fastest of the 27 athletes in the quarterfinals.

“Stacia did a great job,” Martin said. “She is a great competitor and fought hard through the finish to earn the automatic bid.”

The junior finished second in the fifth heat of the preliminaries and posted the sixth fastest time overall as she finished in 58.11. Weatherford ran her career best of 57.92 seconds at the MVC Outdoor Championships in earning All-Conference honors with a second place finish.

Michl's season came to a close in the quarterfinals of the women's 800 meters as she ran 2:08.35 to finish 15th overall. That was just 1.5 seconds away from a berth in the NCAA Finals despite being boxed in and unable to run her typical race.

“She got jumbled up twice in the race,” Martin said. “She almost made it up but couldn't quite make do it. It was a good learning experience for her. She has made big improvements that will set her up well for next year.”

Michl ran a personal best 2:06.28 to finish seventh overall and third in a very fast fourth heat in the preliminaries. That topped her previous career best of 2:06.67 that she ran at the Auburn Tiger Track Classic and was within two-tenths of a second of the school record held by the current Sycamore women's head coach (Angie Bruecker Martin) at 2:06.05.

Friday's competition came to an end for Indiana State with junior Dustin Betz finishing 30th in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 9:08.29. Betz was 13th in the second heat of the event with the top 12 all finishing at nine minutes or less. Betz' career best is 9:02.07 which he ran at the Polytan Invitational.

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 Jonathon 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.

The 2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championship finals will be held June 6-9 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.