Indoor DII National Preview..

March 11, 2008

Next weekend, March 14-15, the 2008 indoor track and field season will come to a close. This yearâ€™s indoor meet will be hosted by Minnesota State University-Mankato at Myers Field House. More than 500 participants are expected (student-athletes, coaches and administrators). This will be the first time that MSU has held an indoor track and field championship, and the first time in eight years that the meet has occurred outside the city of Boston. Perhaps, what is most exciting is that the meet will be streamed live, free of charge, on msumavericks.com. In keeping with the idea of March Madness, I am going to make my predictions for individual champions. In the spirit Flotrackâ€™s interactive community, I want you, the reader, to make predictions as well. These athletes have worked hard to make it to the national meet, so letâ€™s focus on the positive and avoid name calling and put downs. Pick your meet favorites without demeaning the accomplishments of other athletes.

60 meters
Womenâ€™s Lincolnâ€™s Janika Martell and St. Augustineâ€™s Barbara Pierre come in with the seed time of 7.42. Pierre was last yearâ€™s champion with a time of 7.41 and holds the meet record. Despite this, Martell is my pick since she ran 7.42 on the 29th of February and appears to be peaking at the right time.
Menâ€™s St. Augustineâ€™s Sherif Nash has the best seed with a time of 6.67, the only seed time under 6.70. He has also already run against and beat the second seed, his teammate Ramon Gittens, perhaps giving Nash the psychological advantage. So my pick is Sherif Nash.

200 meters
Womenâ€™s Neb.-Omahaâ€™s Pinar Saka comes in with the fastest seed time of 24.49, followed by Minnesota Stateâ€™s Brittany Henderson (24.58) and Adam Stateâ€™s Indira Spence (24.59). Last yearâ€™s 200m champion, Davita Prendergast, will be absent. My pick is Minnesota Stateâ€™s Brittany Henderson because Saka is also the top seed in the 400 meters; running prelims and finals for both events may affect Sakaâ€™s performance in the finals of 200 meters.

Menâ€™s St. Augustineâ€™s Ramon Gittens has the fastest seed time of 21.60, followed J.C. Smithâ€™s Leford Green with 21.70, Cyrus Wesley with 21.72, and Dennis Boone with a 21.74. I pick Ramon Gittens because he is the fastest seed (Admittedly, I do not know much about the 200 meters.)

400 meters
Womenâ€™sPinar Saka has the fastest seed time of 53.91, the only sub-54 qualifying time. St. Augustineâ€™s Erica Young comes in with the seed time of 54.49 and Abilene Christianâ€™s Azraa Rounds comes in with a seed time of 55.45.My pick is Pinar Saka based purely on her times.
Menâ€™s J.C. Smithâ€™s Freshman, Leford Green has the fastest time seed time of 47.41, followed by St. Augustineâ€™s Randy Curry (47.62) and Kyle Rose (47.65.) I am going with Curry since he has past indoor national experience (he ran 47.40 at last yearâ€™s meet). Also, this looks to be his only race of the meet, unlike Green who also is running the 200 meters.

800 meters
Womenâ€™s Seattle Pacificâ€™s Jessica Pixler has fastest seed time of 2:07.87, followed by South Dakotaâ€™s Emma Erickson with 2:09.60 and Wisconsin Parksideâ€™s Jessica Lamp with a 2:10.99. I really believe the winner of the race will depend on what type of race is run. A few seconds can seem like a huge gap in the 800 meters but if any runner runs worse than their seed time it can be anybodyâ€™s race. My pick is Pixler since it would be exciting to see her take titles in both the 800 and mile.
Menâ€™s Our favorite tuba player, Indiana U-PAâ€™s Sean Strauman, comes in with the fastest seed time of 1:51.09 but is injured and not running, followed by Metro Stateâ€™s Anthony Luna with 1:51.27, Minnesota Stateâ€™s Denise Mokaya with 1:51.41, and Adam Stateâ€™s Nick Lara with 1:51.59. Any one of these four runners could take the race. I pick Nick Lara since he is the defending champion and ran a 1:49.73 last year. Furthermore, he ran his qualifying time on March 1st, which suggests that he is peaking at the right time.

1 mile
Womenâ€™s Seattle Pacificâ€™s Jessica Pixler has the fastest seed time of 4:38.33, followed by Adam Stateâ€™s Tanya Gaurmer with 4:54.51,Wisconsin Parksideâ€™s Naomi Fulton with 4:55.04, and Fultonâ€™s teammate Jessica Lamp with 4:55.57. The obvious pick is Jessica Pixler since she comes in with a time that is 17 seconds faster than the next runner.
Menâ€™s Stonehillâ€™s Keith Gill has the fastest seed time of 4:04.23, followed by Hardingâ€™s Daniel Kirwa with 4:07.05, and UMass-Lowellâ€™s Steve Dewitt 4:07.33. My pick is Keith Gill; he is a senior and has a lot on the line.

5000 meters
Womenâ€™s Emporia Stateâ€™s Jonel Rossbach comes in with the fastest seed time of 16:54.12, followed by Abilene Christianâ€™s Winrose Karunde with 16:58.99, and Southern Indianaâ€™s Heather Cooksey with 17:05.05. I am going with Karunde over Rossbach. Karunde had a great outdoor cross country season, placing 2nd overall in the DII National Cross Country Championship. I believe this race is going to be close until the last two laps, when Karunde will surge ahead to take the race.
Menâ€™s Queenâ€™s Daniel Kanyaruhuru has the fastest seed time of 13:57.47, followed by California U-PAâ€™s Chris Clark with a time of 14:02, Hardingâ€™s Daniel Kirwa with 14:05, and Valleyâ€™s Nate Peck with 14:09. Kanyaruhuru is the only runner who has ran under 14, making him the heavy favorite. The possible dark horse is Peck, who is the highest returning finisher from last yearâ€™s indoor championships. Just to be safe, Iâ€™m going with Kanyaruhuru.

Other picks:
60 meter hurdles: Women-Findlayâ€™s Kirby Blackley, Men-West Chesterâ€™s Jarret Eaton
4X400 meters : Women-St. Augustineâ€™s, Men-St. Augustineâ€™s
DMR : Women-South Dakota, Men- Stonehill or Grand Valley State
High Jump Women-Slippery Rockâ€™s Whitney Hendershot, Men- Emporia Stateâ€™s Craig Saalfield
Pole Vault Women-Minnesota Stateâ€™s Katelin Rains, Men-Grand Valleyâ€™s Bryant Wilson
Long Jump Women-Ferris Stateâ€™s Amy Woodman, Men-Lincolnâ€™s Wilbert Walker
Triple Jump Women-CS LAâ€™s Omonike Kotey, Men-Lincolnâ€™s Wilbert Walker
Shot PutWomen-Missouri Southernâ€™s Jessica Selby-Tallman, Men-Ashlandâ€™s Bryan Vickers
Weight Throw Women- Ashlandâ€™s Tara Cooper, Men-Ashlandâ€™s Robert Klenk

Post a Comment

#16	Cara Hawkins March 14, 2008 at 10:50pm Good question... reply
#15	Sarah_x March 13, 2008 at 11:24pm why does it always put an x after my name? reply
#14	Cara Hawkins March 13, 2008 at 12:32pm That is very true steveO... reply
#13	SteveO_x March 13, 2008 at 12:22pm 3 seconds in a mile is an eternity when you are running close to 4 minutes. Heck, first to last seed time in D1 is 2.5 seconds or so. reply
#12	Scott Bauhs March 13, 2008 at 11:55am You missed Joel Hamelton in the 5k. He's my pick. reply
#11	Steeple This March 11, 2008 at 11:14pm GO SHIP ladies dmr!!!!! reply
#10	Dan Suher March 11, 2008 at 6:36pm Actually the queens runner may have been in the 3k, my bad. reply
#9	Dan Suher March 11, 2008 at 6:36pm Looking at the Men's 5k I know very little about d3, but did cover a race in which all of the top three runners ran against each other at the BU terrier invite, and in that race the Cal PA runner won the race, so I am going with him reply
#8	PeeWee Halsell March 11, 2008 at 4:23pm f.u.c.k. jessica pixs.lut and D(whore)is Heish.it. SPU sucks massive balls and they WILL CHOKE!!!!! reply
#7	M- March 11, 2008 at 1:54pm go Pixler! She's getting wicked fast! reply
#6	MI RNR March 11, 2008 at 1:32pm GO GVSU! reply
#5	Distancefan March 11, 2008 at 10:42am Great to see the Cookie Monster back! Go Heather Cooksey! reply
#4	Joshua Neyhart March 11, 2008 at 10:31am Strauman got hurt at conference and isn't entered in the meet. Go Ship Ladies DMR!!!!! reply
#3	Women's 5k March 11, 2008 at 8:50am I think Jonel will take it. Go Jonel! reply
#2	Xc Coach March 11, 2008 at 7:11am good article. I look forward to seeing the results. The meet can be view on CSTV.com if anyone wants to watch it this weekend. This is big for DII sports, especially T&F. Watch if you can. reply
#1	DI Runner March 11, 2008 at 7:10am DII baby is where it's at!!!! We don't all have the crazy money DI has, but we've got some really good talent, too. Look for some good results this weekend. Great preview Cara. reply