Duran Earns All-America; Randall Qualifies for Mile Final
The first day of competition at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships held at North Central College has been completed.
Stevens Institute of Technology senior Alina Duran earned All-American honors in the weight throw. Out of fifteen competitors in the event, Duran finished eighth overall, the same spot she entered the championship.
On her final throw of six attempts, Duran recorded her best mark of the day with a toss of 17.09 meters (56 feet, 1 inch). She finished just .02 meters from seventh and .34 meters from sixth to become the first Stevens track & field athlete to garner All-American recognition.
Nazareth freshman Taylor Pierson placed tenth in the long jump. Seeded 15th going in, Pierson leaped 5.30 meters (17 feet, 4 3/4 inches), slightly off her qualifying distance of 5.51 meters (18 feet, 1 inch) set last week at the ECAC meet in New York City. Pierson is the second Nazareth track and field athlete -- and the first female -- to compete in the national meet.
Ithaca senior Jenn Randall was one of 10 to qualify for Saturday's final in the mile with a school-record finish of 4:54.98 in the preliminaries. She snapped Kate Leugers' record of 4:55.53 set on March 5, 2011. The final is set to take place at 1:40 p.m. Central Standard Time Saturday.
Randall ran 15th in the 800 prelims, crossing the finish line in 2:21.73.
Ithaca senior Amanda Rissmeyer placed 11th in the pentathlon with 3,296 points. She had three season-best performances on the day finishing the 60 hurdles in 9.48, the shot put with an 11.49-meter heave and the 800 run with a time of 2:43.36. She cleared 1.63 meters in the high jump and had a mark of 4.97 meters in the long jump.
Rissmeyer will compete in the open high jump on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Ithaca sophomore Emilia Scheemaker will compete in the triple jump at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Live results are available during the meet. For additional information, please visit the
championships central website.