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Holmes claims long jump title on Day 2 of NAIA Championships
By Matt Green
GENEVA, Ohio -- Make that 15 national champions.
Shorter University sophomore Trebor Holmes captured the national indoor long jump championship on Friday to highlight a big day for the Hawks and Lady Hawks at the 2012 NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Geneva, Ohio.
Holmes becomes Shorter's 15th individual national champion and the first in the men's long jump. He won the title with a fourth and final jump of 25 feet, 4 inches to finish eight inches better than Hastings' Ronnie Taylor. Holmes set a new school record with the performance, breaking his own previous mark by two feet. Holmes' second longest jump of the day would have been good enough to win the title.
Holmes set the tone as Shorter put itself in position to challenge for a second straight team national championship with several strong prelim and semifinal performances.
In the 60 meter dash, the Hawks had three athletes make today's final. Kirk Wilson (6.72), Nigel Talton (6.73) and Allen Huntley (6.78) all qualified for the finals as Wilson and Talton both broke the previous record. Bradley Moon missed out on the final, but turned in a time of 6.97 to finish 18th.
Wilson was Shorter's lone qualifier in the 200, but has a shot at winning that championship today. Wilson ran 21.15 and enters the final with the third best time. Huntley (21.62) was just outside of a finals berth and finished ninth while Randy Dameron (21.68) and Adika Smith (21.73) placed 11th and 12th, respectively.
Dameron will represent Shorter in the 400 after turning in a meet-best time of 47.50 to enter today's final ranked first. Malik Fair ran 48.15 to give the Hawks two representatives in the 400 final.
Holmes will have a shot at a second national title after he qualified for the finals in the 60 hurdles. His time of 8.13 ranks 6th and is second in school history only to Nate Scott's record.
Shorter also has athletes running in the 3,000 and 5,000 finals today as well as athletes competing in the triple jump and shot put. Shorter's DMR and 4x400 teams are also looking to score points as Shorter sits in fifth place entering the final day of competition.
On the women's side, the Lady Hawks are also in fifth entering Saturday's action and have sights set on a potential top three finish.
Tamala Daley highlighted Day 2 for Shorter's women, finishing as runner-up in the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 0.75 inches. Ashlie Stewartson placed fifth (18 feet, 11.25 inches) and Porsche Holden was 11th with a jump of 18 feet, 0.5 inches.
Ayana Walker will represent Shorter in the 400 meter final after turning in a semifinal time of 56.08. Kennisha Holden (56.70) and Stewartson (57.08) just missed out on making the final.
In the 60 hurdles, Porsche Holden broke the Shorter record in the prelims with a time of 8.73 and then again in the semis by running 8.67. She is ranked third heading into today's final.
Several Lady Hawks performed well, but were unable to clinch a spot in the finals of their respective events. Brittany Sewell (7.70) and Lakeisha Spikes (7.71) reached the semifinals of the 60 meter dash, but finished 10th and 11th, respectively. Ashley Ballard paced Shorter in the 200 with a 13th place finish in a time of 24.97. Spikes ran 25.34 to place 20th and Sewell 25.37 to finish 21st.
Mia Jones posted a personal best time of 1:36.91 in the 600, but narrowly missed out on the final with a ninth place finish.
Action from Geneva begins today at 11 am ET.
