Zips T&F Teams Travel to Last Chance Events

Zips T&amp;F Teams Travel to Last Chance Events Image

March 01 | Track & Field

AKRON, Ohio -

Thirteen members of the Akron men's and women's track & field teams will head to three different locations this weekend to participate in "last chance" events, including meets at Iowa State, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech.

The Iowa State Cyclone National Qualifier will be held on Saturday (Mar. 3) in Ames, Iowa. Two Zips will make that trip, including Randall Hafner (Willard, Ohio/Willard HS) and Anthony Thomas (Cleveland, Ohio/Kennedy HS). Hafner, a second team All-Mid-American Conference honoree, will be participating in the weight throw. The senior has already provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoors with his school-record distance of 66-4.25 (20..22). However, he will be looking to improve upon his standing in the national standings to ensure a spot a the championships, currently ranking 20th. Thomas, who will compete in the 200 meters, clocked a time of 21.28 this past weekend to become Akron's second MAC champion in the event, joining current UA assistant coach LeShaunte Edwards. Thomas' time is just five one-hundredths of a second from the NCAA provisional qualifying mark (21.23), a mark 34 athletes in the nation have reached.

The Notre Dame Alex Wilson Invitational will be held this Friday (Mar. 2) and Saturday in South Bend, Ind. Five Akron student-athletes will be completing in two events at the meet. At 7:00 pm on Friday, second team All-MAC honorees Natalie Sako (Parma, Ohio/Valley Forge HS) and Lisa Ravn (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester HS) will compete in the high jump. Both have already provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoors. Sako cleared 6-0 (1.83) on Jan. 19 to currently rank 13th (tied) nationally and has since cleared 5-11.25 (1.81) on three separate occasions. The senior placed ninth at last year's NCAA Indoor championship to earn one of her three All-American honors. Ravn, who tied with Sako for second place at the MAC Indoors, cleared 5-10 (1.78) on Jan. 26. The senior's leap is currently tied for 28th among the nation's leaders in the event. On Saturday at Noon, Ryan Jones (Twinsburg, Ohio/Lakeland CC) will take to the high jump pit. The junior and 2007 MAC runner-up is just three-quarters of an inch shy of reaching the NCAA provisional standard of 7-1 (2-16), clearing 7-0.25 (2.14) at Penn State's Sykes-Sabock Challenge. Currently, just 17 collegians have reached the NCAA provisional standard this season, including just four that have already automatically qualified. Later in the day on Saturday, at approximately 2:05 pm, MAC mile champion Rachel Zubricky and MAC mile runner-up Larisa Arcip will compete in the event. Zubricky (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood HS) won the MAC mile with a time of 4:53.98 with the senior's best time (4:53.5) coming two weeks earlier at Penn State. Arcip (Vaslui, Romania) ran the mile in 4:54.89 at the MAC Championships. The NCAA provisional qualifying standard is 4:48.00 with 38 athletes attaining the mark to date.

The final group of Zip student-athletes will travel to Blacksburg, Va., to participate in Virginia Tech's Last Chance Invitational on Saturday. Akron will send three student-athletes to compete in the pole vault, including MAC champion Jessica Miller, Carrie Kayes and Crystal Goldsmith. Miller (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster HS) cleared 13-1.50 (4.00) at the MAC Indoors to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Indoors, currently ranking 25th (tied) nationally in the event. Kayes (Green, Ohio/Green) had UA's best vault of the season (12-9.50) prior to Miller's effort at the MAC Indoors, while Goldsmith (Zanesville, Ohio/Zanesville HS) has cleared 12-7.50 (3.85) this season. Also competing will be senior Jessica Bright, senior Corine Gavin-Hall and junior Cadeau Kelley. Bright (Painesville, Ohio/Madison HS) turned in a school-record time of 8.46 in the 60-meter hurdles this past weekend at the MAC Indoors, which is just shy of the NCAA provisional mark of 8.43. Gavin-Hall (Canton, Ohio/Canton McKinley HS) claimed a MAC championship in the 200 meters this past weekend, turning in a school-record time of 23.93 along the way. The NCAA provisional standard, which 39 have already reached, is 23.90. Kelley, who set school records in both the long (24-6.50) and triple jumps (49.4.25) this past weekend, will complete in the long jump alone at Virginia Tech. His leap at the MAC Indoors is just three-quarters of an inch shy of the NCAA provisional standard (24-7.25).

The NCAA Indoor Championships will be held Mar. 9-10 in Fayetteville, Ark., on the campus of the University of Arkansas.

NOTE OF INTEREST: The top two long jumps in the nation this season both occurred at the UA Athletics Field House. During the Big East Indoor Championships, Louisville's Tone Belt had a leap of 26-1 (7.95). A week later, during the MAC Indoor Championships, Ohio's Nathan Mayle matched that effort.