By Steve Holt, Copy Editor
A school track and field record fell on Friday, along with the times of several ACU athletes among mostly Division I talent at the Razorback-Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.
Freshman Yuliya Stashkivran a school-record and na-tion-best time of 16:27.69 in the women’s 5,000 meters to qualify automatically for the Division II Indoor National Championship. Stashkiv-who also is at the top of the Division II mile list-placed third in the race behind arguably the two best university distance runners in the United States.
“Depth-wise, the women’s 5,000 could have been the best race of the day,” said head track and field coach Jon Murray. “I thought 16:30s to 16:40s were in her range. She just jumped in there with them and worked hard. It was a very fast day.”
Stashkiv’s time in the event was a personal best for her, and she said her time was a surprise.
“It was very quick for me,” she said. “I called my father [Sunday] and told him. He said, ‘Wow! How can you do it?'”
The story of the day on the men’s side was senior Nic Alexander, who blistered his Division I competition in the men’s 60-meter dash with a time of 6.63. Alexander beat top sprinters from TCU, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Florida and Memphis.
Sophomore Bernard Mani-rakiza took first in the men’s 800-meter run, qualifying automatically with a time of 1:50.41. Freshman Martin O’Kello finished 5th in 1:52.07, while junior Jean-Marie Ndukimana placed 12th in 1:53.33. Both O’Kello and Ndukimana were provisional qualifiers.
The same three qualified provisionally with strong times in the mile, giving the men’s squad the promise of a good middle distance point total at nationals. Manirakiza was 6th in 4:09.08, Ndukimana was 10th in 4:12.16 and O’Kello was 12th in 4:12.67.
Junior Arthemon Sinda-yigaya won the men’s 5,000-meter run in 14:33.24. His time was good enough to qualify him provisionally for nationals.
On the women’s side, the 4×400-meter relay improved its provisional time to 3:48.66, as did senior Angie Waters in the 800 meters (5th place, 2:11.85). And in her first 400-meter dash of the season, junior Sofi Hildenborg provisionally qualified for nationals with her time of 56.29 in a fast field of runners.
The field event athletes’ marks were about the only thing not falling Friday, as the women added a new provisional qualifier and three athletes bettered their marks.
Sophomore pole vaulter Katie Eckley, though off to a sluggish start this indoor season, cleared 11-8 to qualify provisionally. Teammate Val Gorter placed 10th, improving her provisional mark with a 12-2 vault.
Senior Lakeshia Finch came close to an automatic mark in the women’s triple jump, jumping 40-0 for 10th in the event. In addition to running a leg of the men’s 4×400-meter relay team, freshman Cory Aguilar vaulted his way to 4th on the national list by clearing 16-0 3/4. Manuel Brandenborn continued a successful sophomore season, placing 4th in the shot put with a throw of 57-9.
Murray said that while many Wildcat athletes are the best in the nation in their respective events, the real test comes March 14-15 at the Division II Indoor National Champion-ship.
“It’s not over ’til it’s over,” Murray said.
