The University of Akron Athletics
Zips Have Two NCAA Prov. Qualifiers at Akron Invite Day 1
February 13 | Track & Field
AKRON - The two-day Akron Invitational had a good start Friday night with three women posting NCAA provisional qualifying marks in the pentathlon, including two Zips - Felicia Close and Brittany Cheese.
Kent State's Diana Dumitrescu won the pentathlon with 4,016 points, 59 points from the NCAA automatic qualifying standard. Close tallied 3,738 points to place second and Cheese was third with 3,731 points. Respectively, Close and Cheese posted the third and fourth-best point totals in UA history in the pentathlon.
While competition resumes at 10 am Friday, the jewel of the weekend is the Gold Invitational Section, which begins at 3 pm with the men's pole vault and concludes with the men's and women's 4x400 relay, scheduled to begin at 5:45.
The Invitational began with Cheese running a personal-record 8.65 and placing second in the pentathlon 60-meter hurdles. Additionally, her time ranks as the third-fastest time in the hurdles in UA history. Close clocked a time of 8.76, just off her personal record time of 8.74.
Close racked up 627 points with her distance of 37-8.50 in the shot 783 points with her leap of 18-11.75 in the long jump and 666 points in the 800 with her time of 2:32.14, all three personal records.
Cheese won the pentathlon long jump with a leap of 19-2.50, which ranks a third on the UA all-time list as well. She capped the day with a time of 2:34.89 in the 800 to give her the 3,731 points, six points above the NCAA provisional standard.
In the men's heptathlon, UA All-American Daniel Kinsey won the long jump with a personal-record leap of 22-4.50. Teammate Bjorn Johansson was third in the heptathlon long jump with his mark of 22-0.25. Kinsey and Johansson also went 1-3 in the heptathlon shot put. Kinsey registered a distance of 46-5.50, while Johansson came in at 42-8.25.
The heptathlon will conclude Saturday morning with the 60m hurdles, pole vault and 1,000 meters.
