Six Highlanders Earn All-America Status in Indoor Track and
Field
HOUGHTON, N.Y.
— Six Houghton College track and field athletes have earned
All-America status in indoor track and field by virtue of their
performances at the National Championship Meet of the National
Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) last weekend.
Rachel
Rhodes had the highest finish ever for a Houghton College
athlete at the national meet, taking second place in the women’s
3000M race walk in 16:43.49. Assistant coach Matt Dougherty
called it “A very good performance considering her limited
training over the past three months due to an injury,” then
added, “Certainly a performance that shows her talent and the
impact of having several national meets under her belt.”
Another
All-American performance came from Naomi Christensen, who ran a
1:35.45 in the women’s 600M to take fourth place. Assistant
Coach Trini Rangel noted that it was just Christensen’s third
time running that distance. “We don’t see it often at meets in
the area,” said Rangel, “But when one of the meets we ran at
offered it, we asked Naomi if she’d like to give it a try and
she qualified [for the national meet] by several seconds.”
The
Highlander’s distance medley relay team went to the national
meet ranked 17th, but ran a
10:19.59 to take
sixth place, and automatically earn All-America status.
“They
each showed a tremendous amount of poise and strength throughout
the meet,” said Dougherty. He praised leadoff man Johnny Kimani
for “another courageous performance,” noting that Kimani had
been fighting a back injury.
Dougherty
said Steve Scott, who ran the second (400M) leg, “can
add intensity and passion to any relay he runs on,” and called
that “key in the men’s team making it to the finals.”
Dougherty
recalled that Josiah Snelgrove, who ran the third leg, had been
on last year’s team that failed to reach the finals. “Josiah
came back this year and stated early that this men’s team would
not be watching from the spectators’ seats,” Dougherty said,
“His improvement over the past year was capped off by an amazing
800M leg in the finals.”
Finally,
Dougherty called Dan Ballard “the veteran of the group,” noting
that this was Ballard’s fourth trip to a national meet (indoor
and outdoor). “His poise throughout the week kept the men’s team
focused on the goal,” Dougherty said, “His 1600M finals leg was
a veteran run as he made early moves to seal his place—it was a
gutsy anchor.”
Best of
all, Dougherty says, “It’s a great feeling to know you have an
All-American relay team heading into the outdoor season intact.”
