At the second and final day of the Kent State Golden Flash Gala on Saturday (Dec. 12), Ashland University's men's and women's indoor track and field teams added seven new NCAA nationals provisional marks and improved on three others.
The biggest movement came in the men's shot put. Junior Jason Zahn won the event with a new provisional distance of 17.45m/57-feet-3. Senior Zac Papay took fifth with a new provisional mark of 16.56m/54-feet-4. Three throwers improved on previous provisional distances – sophomore Elijah Talk (fourth, 17.21m/56-feet-5.75), senior Jared Whitcomb (sixth, 16.43m/53-feet-11) and junior Zachary Smelcer (seventh, 15.99m/52-feet-5.5).
Freshman Myles Pringle earned provisional nationals entry in two events, taking second place in both the men's 400-meter dash (47.98 seconds) and the men's high jump (2.05m/6-feet-8.75).
Women's provisional newcomers for 2015-16 were sophomore Haley Gregory in the 60-meter hurdles (third, 8.82), redshirt freshman Kala Strong in the shot put (fifth, 13.87m/45-feet-6.25) and junior Rebecca Koval in the high jump (fourth, 1.70m/5-feet-7).
Senior Jamie Sindelar, who previously automatically qualified for nationals in the women's shot put, was second in the event on Saturday at 15.38m/50-feet-5.5. Senior Lauren Ellsworth, who previously provisionally qualified in the women's 60 dash, nearly matched that time in finishing second (7.74).
Senior Nick Hall, who is redshirting and ran unattached on Saturday, won the men's 3,000-meter run with what would have been a new school-record time of 8:17.98.
Through two full meets in 2015-16, Ashland's men and women have combined for one automatic national qualifier and 20 provisional national qualifiers.
Ashland will begin the second-semester portion of its schedule on Friday, Jan. 8 at the Ohio State Buckeye Classic.
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