Ashland University's men's and women's outdoor track and field teams kept piling up the nationals-worthy efforts on Friday (April 17) and Saturday (April 18) at the Walsh Invitational, adding three more automatic and four more provisional showings for the 2015 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Nationals, May 21-23 in Allendale, Mich.
Senior Zac Ball and sophomore Jordan Crayon moved from provisional to automatic status in the men's hammer throw. Ball won the event with a top mark of 65.88 meters, while Crayon was second at 65.43 meters. Junior Jared Whitcomb earned a new provisional distance in the hammer (55.44 meters).
In the women's hammer throw, senior Kim Habegger earned an automatic spot at nationals with her second-place showing of 59.99 meters. Senior Jessica Bridenthal was third in the event (57.53), and sophomore Megan Tomei (fourth, 56.42 meters) and senior Shatora Lewis (fifth, 54.88 meters) improved on previous provisional efforts.
Junior Elijha Owens earned provisional status in his third event of the spring, winning the men's 400-meter dash in 47.69. Owens already has provisional times in the 110-meter high hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles.
Freshman Clayton Jury earned a provisional spot in the men's discus throw (fifth, 50.98 meters), while senior Jennifer Foster did the same in winning the women's high jump at 1.74 meters.
Among those improving on previous provisional showings were sophomore Jason Zahn in the men's shot put (first, 16.57 meters) and the men's discus (fourth, 52.83 meters), Tomei in the women's shot put (second, 14.01 meters) and Lewis in the women's discus (first, 48.23 meters).
On top of those efforts, there were other first-place finishes at Walsh. On the women's side, seniors Meghan Cunningham and Foster each had a top pole vault mark of 3.51 meters, junior Jamie Sindelar won the shot put (15.59 meters), freshman Irene Skinner took the 200-meter dash (25.07) and freshman Haley Gregory took top honors in the 100-meter hurdles (15.03).
Senior Waquiem Comar (53.38 in the 400-meter hurdles), sophomore Aubrey Jordan (4:00.93 in the 1,500-meter run) and Sam Shafer (57.04 meters in the javelin throw) all won their respective events.
Ashland's outdoor track and field teams will return to action in their only home meet of the season, the Ashland Alumni Open, on Friday (April 24) and Saturday (April 25).
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