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  • Kylie Cornman earned All-American status in the shot put at the NCAA Division II track and field championships.

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March 8, 2013

Cornman earns All-American status

From staff reports

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Kylie Cornman of Missouri Southern earned All-America honors in the shot put on Friday at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships at the CrossPlex Complex.

Cornman, a senior from Mountain View, Mo., placed fourth with a throw of 47 feet, 71⁄4 inches. Sam Lockhart of Grand Valley State won the event at 55-33⁄4, almost five feet ahead of the field.

Cornman’s throw came on her next-to-last attempt.

“Kylie has a great series of throws,” Lions coach Patty Vavra said. “She almost threw the best of her career but it was about an inch below.

“I’m tickled for her, excited for her. She had a bad hamstring pull last year in the outdoor season when se was just about ready to qualify for nationals. It took almost an entire summer for her to recover. It’s nice to see her back and doing well and competing with confidence.”

In the women’s pole vault, Melanie Bower placed 11th at 12-11⁄4, and Sydney Haase took 14th with 11-73⁄4.

“Melanie couldn’t quite pull off 12-7,” Vavra said. “That would have been her career best and tied the school record. She had some good attempts but wasn’t able to clear the bar. There was an extremely competitive group of young ladies in that event. It took almost 13 feet to get on the (medal) stand.”

Brittani Reagan finished 15th in the long jump at 18-21⁄4.

“Actually each of her jumps got better,” Vavra said. “Once again, it was a pretty good field. If she had jumped the equivalent of her best at conference, she still would have been a little short of being in the top eight. She didn’t jump poorly. She just didn’t jump good enough to be an All-American in a great field of competitors.”

The Lions’ Jayce Thomas used a strong high jump to climb into ninth place in the heptathlon with 2,753 points. He trails the leader by 442 points.

“Jayce’s day started out very slow,” Lions coach Tom Rutledge said. “He didn’t have a good 60 meters, not a great long jump, a shot put that was mediocre. He moved from almost last place to ninth place with the high jump (clearing 6-7, good for second place in the event).

“Today he has the hurdles and pole vault, two of his best events. I hope he breaks into the top eight with those two events and holds on in the 1,000 meters.”

Sprinter Jeff Fraley failed to make the finals in the 60 or 200 meters. He was 10th in the 60 at 6.82, just 0.01 seconds short of qualifying, and he took 14th in the 200 (21.63).

Clark Tanksley finished 12th in the high jump with 6-83⁄4.

For Pittsburg State, Keenan Soles was 11th in the long jump (23-8), Emily Ballock was 11th in the 800 (2:11.68), and Jordan Riffel was 12th in the 200 (21.59).

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