As soon as one season ends, another begins, and one can feel the shift from bitter harsh winter to kinder warmer spring. For runners this means a shift from the small enclosed indoor track to the larger, outdoor track. On the second weekend of the outdoor season, there were many meets ranging from the Stanford Invitational to the Raleigh Relays. With so many meets, I recommend that readers let me know if I missed any outstanding performances by leaving that information in the comment section.

World XC Championships- Shippensburg’s Neely Spence was the first American in the women’s junior race finishing 19^th in at time of 21:33. She was 1:19 off the winner, Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba (20:14). 

About her experience Spence explains, “The first loop felt fast. I tried to start out towards the back and I was able to work up from about 40^th to about the 20s by the second lap around. I was able to use the second downhill to move up, but on the second uphill, I started to get a side stitch. I tried to focus on my breathing and recover on the downhill. I was able to pass a few people on the last uphill to the finish. This certainly was the hardest race I've ever run.”

Read more from her blog here.

ACU Triangular- Abilene Christian is off to a strong start. Sophomore thrower Nick Jones posted two automatic qualifying marks in the discus (the longest being 54.22 meters) and in the shot put (17.00 meters).  In the men’s 100 meters, Desmond Jackson ran an automatic qualifying mark of 10.43. Pole-vaulter Stephen Toler posted an automatic qualifying mark of 17-0.75. On the women’s side, Paige Newby finished third in the discus with an automatic throw of 48.98 meters.

Cal-Nevada Championships- CS Stanislaus’s Rosemary Fiekert provisionally qualified in the women’s pole vault by clearing 3.85m. UC San Diego’s Stephanie LeFever provisionally qualified in the women’s long jump with a jump of 5.76 meters. Cal. State LA’s Karla Alburez automatically qualified in the women’s steeple chase with a time of 10:44.50. Her teammate Vivien Wadeck won the women’s 5k in an automatic qualifying time of 16:49.16.

Richmond’s Fred Hardy Invitational- Shippensburg’s Mary Dell won the 800 meters in a provisional qualifying time of 2:11.13. Shippensburg also won the women’s 4x400 meters in a time of 3:52.20.

Raleigh Relays- St. Augustine’s Barbara Pierre won the women’s 100 meters and 200 meters with automatic qualifying times of 11.60 and 24.05. Grand Valley’s Monica Kinney automatically qualified in the women’s 1500 meters with a time of 4:27.57. Wisconsin-Parkside’s Jessica Monsoon ran an automatic qualifying time of 16:40.10 in the women’s 5k. Also automatically qualifying in this event was Ferris State’s Christiania Muir (16:55.22) and Edinboro duo Rachael Lanzel (16:57.05) and Tina Yi (17:05.93). In the women's 10k, Slippery Rock's Jennifer Harpp qualified with a time of 35:21.65

On the men’s side, St. Augustine’s Josh Scott automatically qualified in the 400 meter dash, winning in a time of 46.13. His teammate, Rashaud Johnston, also automatically qualified in the 400 meters with a time of 46.63. Slippery Rock's Jeff Weis qualified in the men's 5k with a time of 14:14.86. In the 800 meters, St. Augustine's Johnny Shuping qualified with a time of 1:51.28.

Stanford Invitational- Alaska Anchorage’s David Kiplagat automatically qualified in the 3k steeplechase with a time of 9:01.67. Queens-Charlotte’s Michael Crouch came in ninth in the fast heat of the men’s 5k with an automatic qualifying time of 13:46.97. Alaska Anchorage’s Marko Cheseto also automatically qualified in the 5k with a time of 14:02.45. Cal. PA's Christopher Clark automatically qualified in the 10k with a time of 29:44.45. In the men's 1500 meters Chico State's Mike Wickham qualified with a time of 3:49.81.

On the women’s side, Northwest Nazarene’s Ashley Puga ran an automatic qualifying time of 2:07.55 in the 800 meters. Seattle Pacific’s Jessica Pixler won the women’s 1500 meters in an automatic qualifying time of 4:18.64, besting nationally-ranked distance veteran and Olympian Jen Rhines. Pixler’s teammate, Jane Larson, ran a provisional qualifying time in the 5k of 17:06.01, which is only about a second off of the automatic standard.  Clarion’s Erin Richard automatically qualified in the 10k with a time of 32:48.69. Seattle Pacific’s Janae Larson also automatically qualified in the 10k with a 35:25.72.