Track and Field Continues to Meet Qualifying Marks in New Mexico

Friday, January 20

Albuquerque, NM

Grand Canyon

Cherry and Silver Invitational

Moya McKenzie was part of the women's 4x400 meter relay team that reached an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.

Track and Field Continues to Meet Qualifying Marks in New Mexico

1/21/2012 9:01:00 PM | Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

The Grand Canyon University men's and women's track teams today completed the second and final day of the Cherry and Silver Invitational held at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The men's team is ranked No. 5, while the women are ranked No. 7 in the USTFCCCA Division II Indoor Track and Field Preseason rankings.

Among the teams competing in the meet were New Mexico, Utah State, UTEP, Brigham Young, Tulane, Washington State, University of California-Berkeley and Colorado State.

Including the Cherry and Silver Invitational, the 'Lopes now have six NCAA automatic qualifying marks and 35 provisional qualifying marks after just two meets this season.

"Overall, I'm very pleased with the continued effort of the team," said head coach Tom Flood. "Two day meets are always tough, especially this early in the season. We trained right through this meet, but it's a bonus to see marked improvement even with the heavy workload."

Tonique Sobah finished sixth in the 60-meter hurdles with a provisional qualifiying time of 8.67, the 12^th fastest mark in the nation.

Petra Fanty finished fifth in the 400-meters with a time of 55.82, which was a provisional qualifying mark and the third-fastest time in Division II this season.

Shavine Hodges finished third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.48. She had previously reached an automatic qualifier in the event with a time of 7.44 at the NAU Lumberjack Invitational.

The women's 4x400-meter relay team finished third in the event behind Division I schools New Mexico and UTEP. Sarah Stemm, Hodges and Fanty posted a time of 3:48.70, a provisional mark and the second-fastest time in the country. That time also bettered their run at the NAU Lumberjack Invitational (3:51.96).

Dominique Hubert had the fastest time in the 60-meter dash preliminaries with a mark of 6.81. He bettered his time by 0.04 seconds in the finals to take second place behind Philip Redrick of Triple Crown, who was the 2010 and 2011 SWAC Indoor Champion in the event. Hubert had posted an automatic qualifying mark in the 60-meter dash at the NAU Lumberjack Invitational with a time of 6.67, which was also good enough to qualify for the USA Indoor Championships.

Kevin Lashley finished sixth overall, third among collegiate athletes, in the triple jump with a leap of 14.98 meters, the second-best jump in the nation and a provisional qualifier.

The men's 4x400-meter relay team of Mikio Bain, Oliver Smith, Hubert and Clark Coyle finished third in the event with a time of 3:18.20. They also finished behind two Division I schools, as UTEP and Washington State claimed the top two spots.

On the first day of the meet, Ann-Marie Duffus became the sixth GCU athlete to reach an NCAA automatic qualifying mark after posting a long jump of 19 feet, 11 and a half inches, which was the second-best leap for Division II in the nation this season. Among the six athletes to reach provisional qualifying marks last night were Hodges (200-meters), Bain (200-meters), Eric Frawley (pole vault), AAron Hill (long jump), Karlin Stewart (long jump) and Lashley (long jump).

"I'm especially pleased with the performances of Kevin Lashley, Eric Frawley, Petra Fanty, Ann-Marie Duffus, Shavine Hodges and the girls' 4x400-meter relay," added Flood.

The 'Lopes will next be in action when they return to Flagstaff, Ariz. to participate in the Mountain T's Invitational hosted by Northern Arizona University on Jan. 27-28.