Men's and Women's Outdoor Track Open 2011 NCAA Championships
RESULTS | PHOTO GALLERY
Delaware, Ohio, May 26, 2011 — The Washington University in St. Louis men’s and women’s outdoor track & field teams competed in an action packed first day of the 2011 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Thursday, May 26, on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.
The Bears combined to send 10 athletes to the 2011 Outdoor Championships with five of those student-athletes in competition on the opening day. Junior Michael Burnstein delivered the team’s first All-America finish of the meet grabbing third in the men’s 10,000-meter to put the Bears in a tie for seventh place with six points through the first day of the three-day meet.
The second-to-last runner admitted to the 2011 10,000-meter field of 19 student-athletes, Burnstein proved he belonged by posting a third-place mark of 30:29.69, earning All-America honors in the event for the second year in a row after a seventh-place finish in 2010.
Senior Ben Harmon had the busiest day of nearly all the athletes at the meet, competing in the first day of the decathlon in addition to the long jump. He ranks fourth out of 19 with 3,609 points at the midway point of the decathlon and qualified for the finals in the long jump, but came up short of All-America honors with a ninth-place finish and a leap of 6.92 meters.
Harmon posted a number of impressive marks in the decathlon, finishing first in the field with a season-best time of 50.19 in the 400-meter, third in the long jump with 7.01 meters and fourth in the 100-meter dash with a new personal-best time of 11.22.
He also tied for sixth among the decathletes by clearing 1.84 meters in the high jump and was 17th in the shot put with a toss of 10.47 meters. Christopher Newport’s Richard Roethel leads through day one with 3,889 points.
After a grueling day of competition in the decathlon Harmon mustered enough strength to leap into the long jump final, but came just short of capturing an All-America finish. His final preliminary jump of 6.92 meters earned the final spot in the finals, but he was unable to improve on that distance with three more jumps, falling 0.05 meters shy of scoring in the outdoor long jump for the first time in his career.
The Washington University women’s team saw a pair of runners compete on Thursday evening with Liz Phillips leading the way by earning a spot in the 1.500-meter finals. Seeded fourth in Division III heading into the championship meet, she placed fourth in the preliminaries with a time of 4:30.83, and will run in the final on Saturday afternoon.
Freshman Shannon Howell ran in the women’s 400-meter hurdle prelims but did not advance as she came in 18th in the field with a time of 1:03.35 in her first NCAA Championship competition.
Senior Dave Spandorfer joined Burnstein in the 10,000-meter field but fell short of becoming the Bears’ second All-American, placing 12th in 31:03.98.
The Washington University men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams continue action at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Friday, May 27, in Delaware, Ohio.
Harmon will complete the decathlon, juniors Dan Davis and Tyler Jackson will run in the 110-meter hurdle preliminaries and senior Alden Black will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
On the women’s side freshman Anna Etherington will participate in the pole vault, which was originally scheduled for Thursday but was postponed due to inclement weather, Phillips will run in the 800-meter prelims and freshman Sarah Fisher will run in the 3,000-steeple.