Men's Track & Field Boasts Six NCAA Qualifiers at WU Invitational
RESULTS
St. Louis, Mo., April 2, 2011 — The Washington University in St. Louis men’s outdoor track & field team had six student-athletes meet NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship qualifying standards as the two-day Washington University Invitational drew to a close on Saturday, April 2, at the Bushyhead Track in St. Louis, Mo.
The Washington University men’s team compiled a score of 104 points to finish second out of 24 schools, while the women’s team finished fourth in a field of 24 with 74 points. NCAA Division I Saint Louis University won the women’s team title with a score of 146 points and Monmouth College finished first in the men’s field with 139 points.
Senior Ben Harmon became an automatic qualifier in the decathlon with a third-place finish at the WU Invitational Harmon, who is a two-time All-American in the decathlon has qualified to compete in the grueling event at the NCAA Championships for the fourth year in a row.
Harmon finished with a 10-events with a score of 6,763, behind Ethan Miller and Kurtis Brondyke of Central College (Iowa). Harmon placed second among the nine decathlon competitors in the long jump, clearing an NCAA provisional distance of 7.13 meters.
He cleared 1.94 meters in the high jump, 4.35 meters in the pole vault and was the runner-up in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:45.40.
The Bears were dominant in the men’s 10,000-meter run on Friday night with three student-athletes meeting NCAA provisional qualifying standards with senior Dave Spandorfer breaking the school record in the process.
Spandorfer won the 10,000 with a school-record breaking time of 30:10.47, which fell just 0.47 shy of the NCAA automatic qualifying standard; he broke his own school record of 30:19.99 set just last season.
Junior Michael Burnstein was the runner-up in the 10,000 finishing 33 seconds behind Spandorfer for an NCAA provisional finish of 30:43.32, and junior Tucker Hartley came in third with a provisional time of 30:55.00.
Senior Alden Black and junior Dan Davis were also provisional NCAA qualifiers during Saturday’s action. Black won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:19.90. Davis was the runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.61, just 0.20 short of the automatic qualifying mark.
A pair of student-athletes picked up first-place finishes for the Washington University women’s team. Freshman Anna Etherington won the pole vault by clearing 3.35 meters and junior Erica Jackey won the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:43.14.
Junior Ben Cutting rounded out the event winners for the WUSTL men, recording a distance of 50.20 meters in the javelin.
The Washington University men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams return to action on Saturday, April 9, for the Washington University Select Meet starting at 10 a.m.