The University of Akron Athletics
Six Zips Headed To NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Meet
June 04 | Track & Field
NCAA Outdoor Championhips Notes
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NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships page
June 4, 2006
AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron men's and women's track and field teams will send six student-athletes to this week's NCAA Outdoor Championships, which are set to begin Wednesday at Hornet Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State University.
Heading to California for the four-day meet are high jumpers Tomasz Smialek (Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland/Pierwsze Liceum) and Natalie Sako (Parma, Ohio/Valley Forge HS), javelin thrower Ashley Kaufman (Freedom, Pa./Freedom Area HS), pole vaulter John Russell (Princeton, Ohio/Princeton HS), and discus throwers Randall Hafner (Willard, Ohio/Willard HS) and Auston Papay (Sharon, Pa./Sharon HS).
All six will compete during preliminary action Wednesday. Those surviving prelims will participate in finals on Friday. The meet runs through Saturday.
Hafner and Papay are making their first appearance at the
national meet, but the other four have been on the national stage
multiple times. The Zips also sent six competitors to last season's
NCAA outdoor meet, including Russell, Smialek, Kaufman and Sako.
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Russell, a four-time All-American, and Kaufman enter the meet ranked among the top-10 in the nation in their event and within reach of an NCAA title, something no Zips performer accomplished since Christi Smith won the heptathon in 2000.
Russell, who was third at the 2006 NCAA indoor meet, is ranked tied for sixth on this year's performance chart with a season-best clearance of 18-00.50, posted at the Northeast Ohio Invitational (April 22). Thomas Skipper of Oregon, who won the 2006 indoor title, leads the nation with a vault of 19-00.00.
Kaufman, seventh at last year's outdoor meet, enters this season's championships seventh on the national list with a school-record toss of 177-2 at the Mt. SAC Relays (April 14). The senior was third in that deep field, but edged defending NCAA champion Dana Pounds of Air Force, who comes into this week's national meet with the top mark in the nation (195-08).
Smialek, who won the NCAA Mideast Regional title two weeks ago, enters the national meet tied for 10th on the performance chart with a season-best clearance of 7-02.25. He was an All-American at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships and 10th at the 2005 outdoor meet.
A two-time NCAA Indoor All-American, Sako is making her second appearance at the outdoor meet. She finished in an eight-way tie for 16th during last year's prelims and did not advance to the finals. The junior ranks tied for 16th on the 2006 performance chart with a season-best jump of 5-10.75 at the Raleigh Relays on March 25.
Hafner and Papay both qualified with career-best efforts at the Mideast Regional in Knoxville, Tenn. Each eclipsed the school record in the discus at the two-day regional meet. Papay came in with the 10th-best mark in the region, but shattered his own UA mark (179-06) with a toss of 185-06 to finish third. Hafner also snapped Papay's record to place fourth with a mark of 184-06. They are ranked 25th and 26th, respectively, on the 2006 national chart.
Kaufman will be the fist UA competitor to hit the field Wednesday. The javelin prelims kick off at 11:30 a.m. (PDT).
