Track lands more national qualifiers ahead of RSC meet

Women climb to 13th in national rankings

Written By Josh Croup, Co-Sports Editor

Sophomore Chance Callahan became the third men’s track and field jumper to qualify for nationals Saturday with a 14.08-meter leap in the triple jump.

Callahan placed second at the Mount Union Jim Wuske Invitational in the triple jump and will join fellow jumpers Jryi Davis and Shaun Berry at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championships in Pittsburg, Kan. this March.

The men had 21 overall top-10 finishes at the invitational.

The jumpers continued their successful season Saturday led by Callahan. Junior Michael Morris jumped to a third-place finish in the high jump and third in the triple jump and was two places behind Callahan in the triple jump. Andre Lowery placed fifth in the long jump with Davis in eighth.

Xavier Stephens paced another one of his own school records again in the mile with a second-place finish at 4 minutes, 25 seconds. He won the 800 meters with a 1 minute, 58.70-second time.

The women were highlighted last weekend by the distance medley relay team of Kayla Roberts, Erica Hanserd, Alyssa Boyd and Anna Shields.

The group qualified for nationals with a school-record time of 12 minutes, 5 seconds at the Youngstown State University Mid-Major Invitational Friday. The number currently ranks as the second-best time in the NAIA this year.

Hansard and Shields were also part of the 4×400-meter relay team that qualified for nationals two weekends ago at the SPIRE Midwest Open.

Ana Benitez, who qualified for nationals in the triple jump earlier this season, won the event at Mount Union on Saturday with another leap that met the national qualifying standard.

The women’s strong showing last week helped them move up in the latest national poll released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association to 13th in the country, up from 18th two weeks ago. The next rankings come out Feb. 6.

Point Park enters this weekend’s inaugural River States Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship with some of the top runners in the country on the women’s side and jumpers on the men’s side. The championships take place Friday at Tiffin University.