By Jared Fields, Editor in Chief
MANKATO, Minn., – During Thursday night’s team meeting, head coach Don Hood said something negative would happen that could bring the team down.
“Boy it did, didn’t it?” Hood said after the completion of Friday’s events.
However, the men’s team finished Friday with nine points – four from Ramon Sparks in the long jump and five from the men’s distance medley relay – and qualified most of the team for Saturday’s finals.
Daniel Maina, who ran his mile and 800m prelims Friday, was the victim to Hood’s prediction.
In his first prelim of the night, the mile, another competitor stepped on Maina’s right ankle and both fell to the track. Maina finished the race, however, but did not qualify for Saturday’s finals.
Hood appealed for Maina to be placed in the finals, citing his position on the track at the time of the fall as evidence he would have qualified, but his efforts went for naught.
The women’s team enjoyed few reasons to celebrate as only one athlete qualified for Saturday’s finals. The women’s team ended Friday on a positive note as the DMR team finished fourth with a time of 11:47.57, besting their previous top time of the year by about 10 seconds.
Four women compete in individual events Saturday and the 4x400m relay.
“I think they’re going to get it together,” said Azraa Rounds, who ran a 56.49 in her 400m prelims, ranking her seventh for Saturday’s finals. “Once we get the flow going … I think girls are going to start seeing that we have a chance.”
The men’s team sits in much better position for Saturday. Their main competition, St. Augustine’s College, is the only team in the way of an indoor championship.
“We didn’t totally shoot ourselves in the foot like we did last year,” Hood said. “I think we’ve at least got a chance. Until I sit down and look at the papers and kinda see what we’ve got and what they’ve got, you don’t know.”
On paper, just like before Friday, ACU faces strong odds. If points were given based on rankings going into Saturday’s finals, ACU is picked to make 38 points compared to 67 from St. Augustine’s. When Hood heard those numbers he said, “I guess we’ve got a little work to do.”
Sparks put in his work Friday with his fifth-place long jump of 23-2.75, but still lacks the triple jump on Saturday. Sparks enters the triple jump ranked seventh.
“But I shouldn’t be because I haven’t jumped well in the triple jump all year,” Sparks said. “Tomorrow, I’ve gotta jump well to make up for today.”
Sparks is one of three ACU men who will compete in the triple jump. Davy Manga, last year champion, and Gerald Chenyi also compete.
Despite the setback to Maina, other athletes put in their work Friday to qualify for the finals. Namely, Desmond Jackson, Billy Walker and Andrew McDowell qualified in their events.
Jackson qualified fourth in the 60m with a time of 6.75, just four one-hundredths off the leader’s time, and third in the 200m with a time of 21.84.
“We positioned ourselves decently today,” Hood said. “We’re in a whole lot better shape than last year. I think we’ve got a great opportunity to do this deal if we can just close the door (Saturday).”
For a schedule of events and a complete list of results, visit: http://www.flashresults.com/2008_Meets/indoor/NCAADII/
