Matt Green

Guest writer

The Shorter University men and women’s track and field teams posted respective second and fourth place national finishes on March 4 as the 2012 NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships concluded from Geneva, Ohio.

The Hawks, who entered this year’s national meet as the defending NAIA Indoor champions, scored 72 points to finish behind team champion Wayland Baptist, which exploded for 108 points. The Lady Hawks posted their best ever indoor team finish, tying Embry Riddle with 45 points to better a fifth place finish from a year ago.

The weekend was another success for Shorter on the national stage. The program crowned its 15th and 16th individual national champions in Trebor Holmes and Tamala Daley. Holmes won the men’s long jump while Daley won the women’s triple jump with a leap of 39 feet, 9.75 inches on Saturday.

On the men’s side, Shorter came up just short despite putting several athletes on the podium.. Randy Dameron produced Shorter’s best individual performance on the final day of competition, finishing second in the 400 meter dash in a school record time of 47.30. Malik Fair finished seventh in the 400 in a time of 47.89.

Kirk Wilson was third in the 200 in 21.29. Daniel Sorenson placed third in the 3,000 meter run turning in a time of 8:26.26 and Oscar Ogwaro, the defending national champion in the 5,000, placed third this time around in 14:31.76.

Holmes backed up his long jump national title by finishing third in the 60 meter hurdles. He completed the event in 8.01 seconds, the second fastest time in school history.

Sadrac Cherfils placed third in the triple jump with a distance of 50 feet even. That jump is a school record. Shorter had three athletes score points in the 60 meter dash with Wilson leading the way in 5th in 6.84. Nigel Talton (6.87) and

Allen Huntley (6.89) were sixth and eighth, respectively. Robert Harvey rounded out Shorter’s individual performances by throwing a school record 53 feet, 5.5 inches to place eighth in the shot put.

Shorter’s 4×400 meter relay squad of Dameron, Terence Scruggs, Cole Rice and Fair ran second place in a school record time of 3:12.16 and the Hawks’ DMR team of Carlos Perez, Adika Smith, Eliud Ng’etich and Sorenson finished fourth in 9:59.13.

On the women’s side, Daley’s national championship jump in the triple wasn’t a personal best, but it got the job done on the final leaderboard. Dominique Woods finished third in the event with a distance of 39 feet, 6.5 inches.

Between the long jump and the triple jump, Shorter scored 28 of its 45 points.

Porsche Holden placed third in the 60 meter hurdles in 8.77 and Ayana Walker was fourth in the 400 meter dash in a school record time of 55.13. Shorter’s final point producer on the day was its 4×400 meter relay team of Walker, Kennisha Holden, Ashlie Stewartson and Ashley Ballard, which ended up third in a school record time of 3:42.30.

Shorter’s men totaled 15 All- Americans while the women had seven earn All-America accolades.

Matt Green

Guest writer

The men and women’s track and field teams traveled to Bloomington, Indiana recently to   compete in the Gladstein Invitational hosted by Indiana University. The Hawks and Lady Hawks continued preparations for the NAIA Indoor Track and Field   National Championships that will commence in a little over a month.

Once again, Shorter’s student-athletes   showed progress while competing against a host of NCAA Division I schools   that included names such as Oklahoma, Memphis, Southern Illinois, Louisville,   Xavier and Butler, among others. Shorter’s women excelled throughout the   competition.

In the 60 meter dash, Lakeisha Spikes and Brittany   Sewell qualified for the NAIA National Championships with respective times of   7.81 and 7.83. Spikes also competed in the open 200 meter dash and finished   fourth in 25.72 to qualify for nationals. Ashley Ballard ran in the invite   200 meter dash and represented Shorter well, placing 6th in a time of 25.28.