I know you all have been eagerly awaiting this column (sorry for the short absence, trying to graduate college has gotten difficult). It has been nearly a month since indoor championships and this has been plenty of time for some of our favorite DII athletes to record some great performances. The Stanford Invitational saw many athletes run some automatic qualifiers including a 15:44.07 win in the 5k by Jessica Pixler. (Performance list here  to catch-up with all the action). In the USTFCCCA poll, Saint Augustine for the men and Angelo State for the women sit on top for week one. This past weekend only proved that the track season is in full stride.  As usual, I am going to review some of the automatic qualifying  times from this weekend which was lacking in action.  If I miss anything, please post in the comment section below. Flotrack is a community.  

John McDonnell Invitational –Lincoln claimed 14 automatic or provisional qualifying marks over the two day meet with their sprint heavy team. In the 400 meter hurdles, Steve Banton took the win with an automatic qualifying time of 51.26.  On the women’s side, Semoy Hackett won the 100 meter dash with an automatic qualifying time of 11.30.  Nyoka  Cole automatically qualified in the 200 meters (23.90) and 400 meters (54.46). Her teammate, Michelle Cumberbatch also qualified in the 400 meters with a time of 54.93. Lincoln’s 4x100 meters won the race over Arkansas in an automatic qualifying time of 45.20.

David Noble/Angelo State Relays-Angelo State’s James Howell won the 400 meter dash with an automatic qualifying mark of 46.47 and automatically qualified in the 200 meters with a time of 20.90.  His teammate, Aisha Adams qualified in both the 400 meter hurdles (57.94) and triple jump ( 12.45 m).  Andria Nussey won the long jump in the automatic qualifying jump of 6.00 meters.

Other automatic qualifying  times this weekend included: Queen’s Tanya Zeferjahn in the 1500 meters  a time of 4:28.76, Abilene Christian’s Amos Sang in the 10k with a time of 29:15.58,  Truman State’s Dani Dell’Orco in the 10k with a time of 35:22.79, and Pittsburg State’s Jeremy Jackson in the 110 meter hurdles in 13.95.