WC’s Truss improves, moves in to national meet picture

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ADA — Four members of the Wilmington College men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Ohio Northern University Friday and Saturday to compete in a Last Chance Meet.

The meet was non-scored, allowing the participants a chance to better their national standing, in an attempt to be chosen for the NCAA DIII Indoor Championship next week.

“I’m happy with how the indoor season has gone. Our team has done a nice job of improving week to week and I’m excited to see what they can do during the outdoor season.”

Juniors Lauren Stacy (Bethel, OH/Western Brown), Pierce Burnam (New Richmond, OH/New Richmond), Kalvin Butts (St. John’s, MI/St. John’s), and Antone Truss (Yellow Springs, OH/Yellow Springs) attended the meet.

Of the four, only Truss posted a finish that broke into the NCAA DIII top-10 in his respective event. Because of this, he will likely be the only Fightin’ Quaker to qualify for the NCAA DIII Indoor Championship, as generally, the top 12 are selected.

“Antone came into today ranked 14th in the high jump and 15 athletes make the cut for nationals, so he probably needed to go higher today to definitely get into the NCAA meet,” Combs said. “He did a great job of hanging in there during the competition and getting the job done. His improvement from last season to this season is significant.”

Stacy competed in both the weight throw and the shot put. She threw 16.00 meters in the weight throw and tossed 12.59 meters in the shot put. Neither of these were her best to date. She currently sits 23rd nationally in the weight throw with a toss from the Cedarville Invite of 16.59-meters. In the shot put, she is ranked 32nd, with her OAC Championship put of 13.21-meters.

Burnam competed in Friday’s portion of the heptathlon events, but had to pull out of the remaining events the following day due to a shoulder injury. His finishes Friday included 7.48 seconds in the 60-meter dash, 3:09.87 minutes in the 1000-meter run, 8.78 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, 5.76 meters in the long jump, and 10.01-meters in the shot put. At the end of day one he had accumulated 3,733 points. Burnam’s highest national ranking (36th) comes from his 4,461 point finish at the Indoor All-Ohio Combined Events Championship.

Butts competed for the Fightin’ Quakers in the weight throw where he tossed 15.13 meters.

Truss cleared a height of 2.07-meters in the high jump. This height is his best to-date, moving him up six spots in the national rankings. Currently, of all reported NCAA DIII jumps, he is eighth.

The NCAA DIII Indoor Track and Field Championship selections are released Monday and the meet will take place Friday and Saturday in Naperville, Ill. at North Central University.

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