The Oklahoma Christian University’s women’s track team qualified six runners for the NCCAA national competition at the Missouri Southern Indoor Invitational.
The first day of the Jan. 16-17 meet, two individuals and the distance medley-relay team posted national-qualifying times.
Paradise Henson, a freshman competing in her first collegiate meet, posted two national-qualifying times in the 60 meters and 200 meters. Henson finished 10th in the 60 meters in 8.17 seconds and was 10th in the 200-meter with a time of 27.18 seconds.
Sophomore Katie Jones recorded a national-qualifying time in the 5,000 meters, taking third with a time of 20:09.19.
The Lady Eagles’ distance medley-relay squad of Layne Hammer, Kara Drewke, Ainsley Ibison and Maci Rich took fifth among nine teams in that race with a time of 13:18.35.
Maci Rich and the performance of the 4×400 relay team highlighted the second day of the meet.
Rich said she was pleased with her day and her team’s performance in their first meet of 2015.
“My time for my first race coming back is faster than it was last year, so that gives me confidence for the rest of the season,” Rich said. “The other girls on the team came back in good shape as well and two of us qualified for nationals already.”
Rich said she worried the team would struggle since they were returning from Christmas break.
“It’s sometimes hard to train on your own over the break, but everyone came back in a good position to start off the season, so [Coach Heath] seemed happy with the outcome,” Rich said.
Rich was the only individual national-qualifier in the 3,000-meter, placing seven out of 19 women who raced with a time of 5:27.62.
The relay team of Rebecca Bloodwort, Kara Drewke, Wilmina Gley and Maegan Cowan finished the 4×400 relay with a time of 4:13.42. This was the Lady Eagles’ season-best time and enough to qualify for the national meet.
Oklahoma Christian’s only field competitor was Sarah Dibiasi, who placed 12th in the high jump with a mark of 4 feet and 9 inches.
Women’s Track and Field Head Coach Randy Heath said he was pleased with his team at this meet.
“We had six NCCAA qualifiers from this meet, which was really exciting, highlighted by a few of our young runners,” Heath said. “I feel we had a really good showing from our women at this meet and are looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Heath said he was uncertain how the team would respond to the loss of a few athletes due to injury and sickness.
“We had some athletes that did not compete at the Missouri Southern Open because of injuries and recovering from sickness,” Heath said. “Also, there are other team members who are still improving their conditioning coming off the Christmas break. However, we had a good number of athletes qualify for the NCCAA Indoor National Meet at the Missouri Southern Open, which is very relieving and exciting for the rest of the year for these girls.”
The Lady Eagles will return to action next Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma at the Central Oklahoma Indoor Invitational.
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