HU track All-American
Angella Graham has qualified for the NCAA National Championships in four events---the Heptathlon, Triple jump, 100M hurdles and 200M dash. Meanwhile the Cowgirls 4 x 100 relay will have to await their fate until selections for the national meet are made on Wednesday.
Competing at the RMAC Championships on May 9-10-11, Graham broke both her own record and the RMAC record in the Heptathlon with 5131 points—well above the NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 5000, but finished second to Amanda Doyle of Adams State (5159).
“This was one of the most exciting heptathlons, I’ve ever seen,” said HU head coach Bob DeVries, “Angella started off with a terrible hurdles race and somehow pulled herself back to a record-breaking performance.” The final result came down to the last event, the 800 meter run, where Doyle edged the Highlands senior to take the win.
Graham came back in the meet to win the long jump, high jump and triple jump and be named the RMAC Field Athlete of the Meet. She also ran second in both the 100H and 200M dash behind ASC All-American, and national champion, Indira Spence. “Angella is in the national field in four events, but we may just enter two or three like we did for indoors,” said DeVries.
While Graham is solidly in the national meet, the HU 4 x 100 team will need to wait and see. After finishing second at the RMAC Championships in a new school record, the coaches decided to take the foursome to a Last Chance meet at Colorado Mines. At CSM the team of Qiauna Fair, Candace St. Louis, Sherry Ann Baggoo and Graham again lowered the school record to 47.07, bettering the NCAA Provisional qualifying mark by over three-tenths of a second and moving them into the top 18 teams in the nation.
“The relay team is a long shot,” noted DeVries, “The last couple years they have taken
about 15 teams—but last year two teams with the same exact time as us made the meet. So maybe quality will be rewarded.” Teams are announced Weds. May 19th.
Selection to the NCAA Championships is done by a national committee. After all automatic qualifiers are entered, the group looks at national lists of provisional qualifiers to fill the field with athletes and relay teams.
Six Earn ALL-RMAC Honors
In addition to Graham’s performance at the RMAC Championships, five other Highlands athletes earned All-Conference recognition in their events:
Kemoy Christie 3rd Javelin
Candace St. Louis 4th 100M, 4th 200M
Sherry-Ann Baggoo 4th 400M
Erica Smythe 5th Javelin
Victoria Dominguez 6th Discus