Indoor Track and Field

Adams State Women Win 2008 NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field Title

by Chris Day, Adams State Sports Information Director

MANKATO, Minn.- Using 19 All-America performances while scoring points in all but one running event, the Adams State College Grizzlies won their first ever track and field title at the NCAA Division II level, here Saturday in Minnesota State University, Mankato's Myers Field House.

The indoor crown is ASC's first women's track and field crown since 1985 when the then Indians won an NAIA indoor title.

The Grizzly men, who won NAIA titles in 1990 and 1992 also claimed a trophy, that go to the top four teams, with a third place finish, led by senior Nick Lara's (Alamosa, Colo.) third straight 800-meter title, his seventh overall career national title.

The Grizzlies won just one event- Friday's distance medley relay- during the 2-day meet but racked up a ton of other point-scoring finishes in an effort that director of track and field Damon Martin, who came to ASC in the fall of 1985, and John Wallin, in his first year as associate head coach and his sixth overall at ASC, both called "gutsy" numerous times.

Finishing as high as second numerous times over the last several years, the Grizzlies finally clinched the team elusive title when junior Heather Wood (Los Alamos, N.M.) and senior Tanya Gaurmer (Westminster, Colo.) finished seventh and eighth in the 5,000 meters giving the Grizzlies an 11-point cushion over St. Augustine's (N.C.), which has won the indoor title in every odd year since 2001.

The Grizzles then completed then added a seventh place finish in the women's 4X400-meter relay while the Falcons finished third to complete the final team scoring chase, which ASC ended on top of, 55-48.  Lincoln (Mo.), which had won the 2004 and 2006 crowns, finished third with 38 1/3 points while Southern Illinois-Edwardsville claimed fourth with 38 in what will be their final NCAA Division II Championships as the Cougars will move to the Division I ranks next year.

Six other teams also scored over 30 points.

Although the title was wrapped up in the distance event, it could not have been done without the sprinters as senior Sherline Duncan (Tweedside, Jamaica), freshman Indira Spence (Trelawny, Jamaica) and freshman Carla-Kay Mills (May Pen, Clarendon, Jamaica) combined for eight All-America efforts in the 60-meter dash, the 60-meter hurdles, the 200 meters and the 4X400-meter relay.

Scoring 19 individual points, Spence broke one and tied another school record in a span of just 14 minutes as she finished second in the hurdles and third in the 200 with times of 8.32 and 24.49 seconds after taking fourth place in the 60-meter dash earlier in the evening.

Duncan was just behind Spence in both the 60 and 200 finishing fifth and fourth in those respective events and then capped the meet with her anchor leg on the 4X400-meter relay.
Mills took sixth in the hurdles after finishing eighth in the 60-meter dash.

The Grizzlies also got points out of sophomore Sofia Monroe (Pueblo, Colo.), who took seventh in the 800 and Gaurmer, who ran a total of 49 laps around the 200-meter track during the meet.  The anchor (1,600-meter) leg on the distance medley relay team that Monroe led off with the 1,200 meters, Gaurmer finished third in the mile, just .01 out of second place.

Sitting fifth with just 16 points at that point, the Grizzlies then were idle in the 400 meters before taking 10 points in the 60 meters matching the 10 that St. Augustine's got from repeat winner Barbara Pierre.

Still fifth after that and Monroe's 800-meter effort, the Grizzlies took the lead for good as the 11 points in the hurdles from Spence and Mills allowed ASC to pass Ashland (Ohio), which scored 30 of its 37 points in the two throwing events.

Spence, who broke her own school record of 8.33 in the 60-meter hurdles before matching her 200-meter record, ran previously on an oversize track, then ran out of the first heat as the Grizzlies scored 11 more in the 200 to out-point another 10 from Pierre and the Falcons.

Leading by eight at that point and after the triple jump that did not include any athletes from the contending teams, the Grizzlies needed just three points from a trio of distance runners in the 5,000 to wrap it up.

They got exactly that as Wood held on for seventh place while a wiped Gaurmer made up four or five places in the last 400 meters to claim the meet-clinching point that Martin and Wallin were not sure she got for several minutes after the race. 

ASC junior Lavenna Mullenbach (Georgetown, Texas) lost one of her shoes less than a third into the race but stayed right with Wood for much of the race before finishing 10th in the 16-runner race despite having to run with a ton of pain on the hard surface with just her sock on one foot.

Redshirt freshman Michele Williams (Colorado Springs, Colo.), senior Drew Houston (Colorado Springs, Colo.), junior Laura Knapp (Alamosa, Colo.) and Duncan then capped the night in the relay.

Williams will be an All-American for the first time in her career when the honors, which go to the top eight finishers in each event, are officially announced by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Sunday afternoon. 

Houston and Knapp also ran legs on the distance medley relay team.

Although the Grizzly women were certainly deserving of the headlines, the ASC men were also impressive as all but one Grizzly to compete on Saturday scored points for ASC, which tallied 39.

Starting the day in a fourth place tie with 18, the Grizzlies started Saturday with 10 more in the shot put as senior John Ybarra (Holland, Mich.) and junior Matt Gersick (Pueblo West, Colo.) finished third and fifth in the shot put, respectively.

Ybarra, ranked second on the seasonal performance lists coming in, fouled on his first two attempts and needed a big throw to simply make the finals.  He delivered just that, recording a toss of 17.38 meters to move into third place and then upped that mark to his final best of 17.75 meters (58'3") on his fourth attempt.

Soon to be receiving his fourth All-America honor of his career, split between Grand Valley State (Mich.) and the Grizzly program, Ybarra finished fourth in the event at last year's outdoor championships.  He also had two All-America finishes while competing for the Lakers.

Gersick, who finished second in the 35-pound weight throw on Friday, turned in a best of 17.12 meters (56'2") on his final attempt moving up one spot in the final pecking order.

Junior Josh Streeter (Alamosa, Colo.) was the next Grizzly to score as he improved upon his 1-day old career-best with a clocking of 48.13 seconds in the 400 meters to finish third.

Lara then stepped to the track and was dominant as he ran from the lead wire-to-wire in the 800, finishing with a time of 1:50.59.

Lara then anchored the 4X400-meter relay team also made up of Streeter, Wayne Durham (Sierra Vista, Ariz.), senior Alex Ponce (Glendale, Ariz.) to a sixth place finish in the 4X400-meter relay.  Durham, a 2-time All-American punter on the Grizzly football team and Ponce, will receive their first career track and field All-America certificates.

Babey Wagnew (San Diego, Calif.) and Amanda Gylling were the other Grizzlies to compete on Saturday.  Wagnew finishing 16th in the 5,000 meters while Gylling took 15th in the high jump.