05.24.08 - Over
the final two days of competition at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships
in St. Louis, Missouri, four Foresters displayed their best effort of the
season to place in the top eight and finish in the scoring.
Topping the list was
junior Lucas Beach, who earned NAIA All-America honors with his fourth
place finish in the shot put. It marks his third trip to the podium
after doing so twice in the event in indoor national competition.
Beach's toss of 56-05.75 was a new career best by more than two feet and
earned HU five team points.
Competing in the 800 meter
run for his fourth and final time, senior Joel Sanders turned in the best
performance of his career with a seventh place finish after placing 16th
last spring. He came within a hair's breadth of earning All-America honors
as his time of 1:52.63 was 1/100th of a second behind the sixth place
finisher.
Junior Dan Lindbloom
shattered his own school record in the 3000 meter steeplechase for the
second time this season to finish seventh in the event. He improved
his time by more than two seconds with a 9:19.55 in the finals.
Nick Johnson, who entered
the 5000 meter competition as the 18th seed, took eight seconds off his
previous best time in the event with a time of 14:48.49. The junior
raced to an eighth place finish and earned another point for HU. Johnson
also was one of two Foresters to earn NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete
honors. Junior Laura Bowman joined Johnson on the list of honorees.
Junior
Lauren Davenport, who made her debut in the 400 meter hurdles, made it
to the semifinals of the event, where she finished 11th with a
personal best time of 1:03.66.
The men scored a total of 10 points and finished 26th in the team
scoring.
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