2016 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships Results (Day 1)
BRADENTON, Fla. – Academy of Art University track & field felt mixed emotions Thursday as half of its events saw competitors qualified the finals including one All-American in long jumper
Craig Mattox. The men's 1500m prelims saw
Valentin Pepiot post one of his heat's four auto-qualifying times while a new program record in the 100m dash powered
Mobolade Ajomale into Saturday.
Starting off the Urban Knights' action in the men's long jump, Mattox flew to a new personal best 25-2.75 (7.69m) in his second attempt and, though wind-aided, he was firmly in third overall at that point. The Winslow, Ariz. native then performed even better on his third chance, going 25-4 (7.72m) with some of the day's heaviest wind, but it put him fourth as one of the 10 finalists. Despite fouls in his last three attempts, Mattox would remain in the fourth position the rest of the way and hoisted his first outdoor All-American trophy with ART U at the event's conclusion.
Despite running into a headwind in his 100m prelim heat, Ajomale delivered his best time of the year with a 10.29 to place second overall out of 22 competitors. He would break the school record by 0.03, win his heat, and finishehd as just one of two sprinters (St. Augustine's Kendall Kee the other) to post a mark under 10.30.
Remaining in the front pack for a slower-paced 1500m prelim heat, Pepiot was in stride with the owner of the top time coming in, Chico State's Kyle Medina, and the No. 5, Tarleton State's Chase Rathke, for the race's entirety. That trio along with Hillsdale's Caleb Mitchell all made a push down the stretch, but they would each earn qualification to the finals with Pepiot coming in at 3:53.82. The day's second heat saw eight of 10 run each run under 3:50.50 to make up the remainder of Saturday's finale.
In the day's final event featuring an Urban Knight,
Roman Skovronski posted a 52.65 in the 400m hurdles, but could not advance past the prelims as he took 11th overall. The senior would finish three spots out and 0.65 off of the final qualifier.
On the women's side,
Keanna Moody finished fourth in her 400m prelim heat, but ended up taking 12th overall to end up four spots shy of making Saturday's final. She would post a time of 55.30 to rank ahead of nine others despite what ended up being the final individual 400m of her collegiate career.
The men's 4x100m relay was one of three teams that did not register a time in the prelims. A missed handoff prevented ART U from having a chance to reach the finals while both Virginia State (disqualified) and Ashland (did not finish) suffered a similar fate.
Postseason action continues tomorrow with the women's triple jump, men's 200m prelims, and women's 4x400m relay prelims at the IMG Academy once again.
