MIAA shows its strength at national meet

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May 28, 2012

MIAA shows its strength at national meet

By Jim Henry Globe Sports Editor The Joplin Globe Mon May 28, 2012, 12:02 AM CDT

Led by Lincoln University’s eight national champions, the MIAA collected 58 All-America honors during the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships that ended Saturday night in Pueblo, Colo.

The Blue Tigers finished second in both team standings, four points behind Adams State in the men’s division and 11 points behind Grand Valley State in the women’s meet. Lincoln made its move during Saturday’s running finals, earning all 11 men’s A-A honors and 10 of 11 women’s awards during those final 10 events.

Central Missouri’s women also had 11 All-Americans as the Jennies were fourth in the standings.

And in the men’s standings, Pittsburg State and Central Missouri finished 12th and 15th, respectively.

“There were more people here from the MIAA than any other conference, and we’ve consistently done that,” Missouri Southern men’s coach Tom Rutledge said. “When we get here, everybody from the MIAA is cheering for each other. We know the MIAA is pretty tough.”

The Lions came home with a handful of All-Americans, including four on the men’s team — Dustin Green in the discus, Darion Boure in the triple jump, Clark Tanksley in the high jump and Jeff Fraley in the 200 meters.

“We had a good meet,” Rutledge said. “Nicklas Polizzi barely missed out in the discus, and Michael Juergens (pole vaulter) had some tough luck (battling food poisoning), but that’s how it goes.

“There are no weak chickens here. You can’t make a mistake here because everybody is good. It’s the national championship. We had a decent year. The guys competed hard, and the good thing is, they are all coming back. And we have a lot of others who barely missed coming.”

On the Lions’ women’s team, Nicole Green became an All-American for the fifth time in her career in the shot put.

“I think the biggest thing is our people competed well and hard,” coach Patty Vavra said. “We would have liked to have had more All-Americans coming away from here, but you look at where they were ranked when they came in and where they finished in their event, in most cases they were able to match their mark or have PRs (personal records) for the season. You can’t ask for any more than that.

“Unfortunately two of them are leaving the program (Nicole Green and Lisa Vengels), but we have two here (Jasmin Hughes and Melanie Bower) that we hope will continue to carry on the tradition and bring more with them in the upcoming two or three years. The experience they got here will be extremely valuable to them in the future.”

Pittsburg State’s men had six All-American performances, led by Mike Beeler’s second place in the javelin. Other All-Americans are Jeff Piepenbrink (pole vault), Kiara Jones (triple jump), John Talbert (discus), Keenan Soles (long jump) and the 4x100 relay team of Jason Crow, Soles, Jordan Riffel and Brandon Neal.

The Gorillas’ Heidi Smith was an All-American in the shot put and hammer throw.

MIAA athletes won a total of 10 events — seven women and three men. The league had four All-Americans in the women’s long jump and shot put and three in the women’s 400 hurdles and heptathlon and men’s discus, 100 and 200.