Photo courtesy of Liz Berie, Point Park Athletics
Sophomore distance runner Katie Guarnaccia finished 12th in the 5,000-meter run at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships with a time of 18 minutes, 30 seconds. She was one of four athletes representing Point Park at the meet.
Four indoor track and field athletes competed at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Indoor Track and Field National Championship in Johnson City, Tenn last weekend.
Sophomore jumpers Shaun Berry and Jryi Davis, freshmen mid-distance runner Desmond Marrow and sophomore distance runner Katie Guarnaccia qualified for the meet during the regular season.
“It was nerve-racking, but at the same time, it was fun because I knew that everyone who was there deserved to be there,” Berry said. “There’s a lot of pressure, but other than that it was fun.”
To highlight the event, Berry placed in 12th out of 21. With a jump of 14.11 meters, he was just shy of NAIA All-American status, which is awarded to the top eight finishers.
“The fact that I didn’t make it into the top eight will probably help me a lot coming into the outdoor season because it’ll make me a lot more eager and will allow me to work harder than I did during the indoor season,” Berry said.
Davis placed 19th out of 21 men who competed in the triple jump this past weekend.
“I’m not really happy with how I did at nationals,” Davis said. “This indoor season, I had marks close to 14 meters. But at Nationals, I barely jumped close to what I can jump.”
Davis wants to focus on qualifying for outdoor track and field nationals. Outdoor events are tougher to qualify for compared to indoor track and field due to the conditions.
“I know what I have to work on if I want to compete in it for the Outdoor Nationals,” Davis said. “But before Nationals I will focus on defending my title at the conference meet.”
“It was a great experience since in high school I wasn’t a super star runner,” Marrow said. “I didn’t run into any obstacles during nationals since I defeated myself. Your biggest opponent is yourself.”
Marrow started off at a good pace by staying in second throughout the race, but ended up dropping back in the last 600 meters. He placed in 22nd with a time of one minute, 24.82 seconds.
“I just kept on getting better during every meet and that was my plan,” Marrow said. “I finished the season great, but my last race wasn’t as great as I wished it to be even though it was still fast enough.”
Guarnaccia was only two spots off from qualifying for the final race in the 5,000 meters. She had a time of 18 minutes, 30 seconds for the preliminaries.
“It was upsetting that I didn’t make it into the final race, but I was going to use it as motivation for the outdoor season,” Guarnaccia said. “During the outdoor season, I just have to stay strong in my mental toughness to make it to the outdoor nationals.”
