Three Vaulters Among National Athletes of the Week Winners
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Year of the Vault: Three Vaulters Among National Athletes of the Week Winners Courtesy: Dennis Young, USTFCCCA April 14, 2015 NEW ORLEANS—There have been ninetyfive National Athlete of the Week Awards handed out by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) in 2015; fourteen of them have gone to pole vaulters. The three most recent winners–Sandi Morris of Arkansas, Luke Winder of North Central (Ill.), and Marissa Kalsey of Westminster–joined the club on Tuesday. Morris broke the Division I vault record, while Winder and Kalsey cleared alltime DIII top ten heights. The year of the vault continues. It would be more accurate to say that Morris and Winder renewed their memberships in the club, as it was the second award of the year for both. It was also a repeat award for Division II winners Salcia Slack of New Mexico Highlands and Lamar Hargrove of Tiffin, plus NJCAA DI women’s winner Chrisann Gordon of South Plains. Slack won her award with a score that made her the tenth highestscoring heptathlete in collegiate history, regardless of division. Garrett Scantling of Georgia won the DI men’s award with a very similar feat: he’s now the ninthranked decathlete in college history. The other three winners were NJCAA male sprinters Antwon Smith of Western Texas (DI) and Brandon Gooden of Queensborough (DIII). Bryea Rhodes of Montgomery won the NJCAA DIII women’s award. Click each of the studentathletes’ names above or keep scrolling below to read about the exploits that made all ten worthy. National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to ten (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions and the two NJCAA divisions) collegiate track & field athletes. Nominations are open to the public. Coaches and sports information directors are encouraged to nominate their student athletes; as are studentathletes, their families and friends, and fans of their programs. The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a weektoweek basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors will also play a role in the decision. DIVISION I MEN – Garrett Scantling, Georgia Senior | Jacksonville, Florida On his home track in Athens, Scantling improved his careerbest decathlon total by sixtythree points to 8232. That’s the twelfth best NCAA performance ever, and makes him the No. 9 collegiate performer ever. It’s the best score in the world this year and broke teammate (and defending outdoor national champ) Maciel Uibo’s Georgia school record by just nine points. Scantling–who lost the NCAA indoor heptathlon by an agonizing two points–racked up his excellent score thanks to tying his personal best in the 100 meters and setting new PBs in the 400, 1500, 110 hurdles, long jump (windaided), and javelin. Honorable mentions: Bralon Taplin, Texas A&M and Thomas Joyce, Cal DIVISION I WOMEN – Sandi Morris, Arkansas Senior | Greenville, South Carolina Sandi Morris hasn’t just spent her senior year breaking the indoor and outdoor collegiate records (Demi Payne now has the indoor record) and winning the indoor national championship. She’s also done all of those things on her own campus in northwest Arkansas. On Saturday, she cleared 4.62 meters (151¾) to win the John McDonnell Invitational and break the college outdoor record by a centimeter. Morris has already jumped 4.66m indoors, and Payne’s 4.75 is the allconditions college record. Don’t expect the year of the vault to end with the women’s outdoor record at 4.62. Honorable mention: Quintunya Chapman, Georgia and Shelby Houlihan, Arizona State DIVISION II MEN – Lamar Hargrove, Tiffin Sophomore | Cincinnati, Ohio Hargrove finished his indoor season with national titles in the 200 and 60. He started his outdoor season right where he left off, winning the 200 at the Tennessee Relays in a careerbest 20.56 seconds and running a leg of the winning 4×100 that teamed up to cover a lap in 40.35 seconds. Both of those times are the fastest in Division II this year; the 200 leads DII by a full fourtenths of a second. The 200 also puts him in the top ten windlegal collegians from any division in 2015. Honorable mention: Drew Windle, Ashland and Justin Welch, Findlay DIVISION II WOMEN – Salcia Slack, New Mexico Highlands Senior | Kingston, Jamaica Slack stamped herself as one of the best athletes in the NCAA this weekend. She scored 6141 points in the heptathlon at Arizona’s Jim Click Combined Events, which makes her the No. 10 college performer ever–any division, old javelin or new. That mark is the Division II record, and includes four personal bests (200, 800, 100 hurdles, shot put). Slack was already the DII national leader in the triple jump; her performances at Jim Click in the shot, long jump, hurdles, and 200 rank in the top five nationally. Honorable mention: Erika Kinsey, Central Missouri DIVISION III MEN – Luke Winder, North Central Freshman | Joliet, Illinois The Chicagoland Championships have been kind to the Winder brothers. Luke cleared 5.36m (177) at indoor Chicagolands in February, which was his PB and the fifth best indoor mark in DIII history. At outdoor Chicagolands this weekend, he cleared 5.40m (178½) for the win and the fifth best outdoor mark in DIII history. After clearing 5.40, Winder took three attempts at 5.51, which would have bested his older brother Jake’s mark by a centimeter. Jake set that mark at 2010 Chicagolands. Luke’s mark is the best DIII vault in since 2012. Honorable mention: Dominique Neloms, UWLa Crosse DIVISION III WOMEN – Marissa Kalsey, Westminster Junior | Waynesburg, Pennsylvania Kalsey has ended her last three seasons with a season best of either 4.00 or 4.01 meters and either a second or third place at the national championship. Whatever happens at outdoor nationals next month, Kalsey had a breakthrough on Saturday. Competing on her home runway, she cleared 4.05m (133½) for the win and the No. 8 spot on the DIII alltime list. Honorable mention: Deterrica Simpkins, Aurora NJCAA MEN – Antwon Smith, Western Texas Freshman | Cleveland, Ohio Smith took down some serious names at Texas Tech’s Wes Kittley Invitational on Saturday, winning the 200 in 20.47 seconds. Though the time was seriously aided by a 4.3 meters per second tailwind, beating Ronnie Baker of TCU and pro Charlies Silmon would be impressive in any conditions. Baker won the 60 meters at last month’s NCAA DI indoor championships, and Silmon won the 100 at DI outdoor nationals in 2013. Honorable mention: Harry Mulenga, Central Arizona NJCAA WOMEN – Chrisann Gordon, South Plains Sophomore | Jamaica Gordon won the 800 and 600 at indoor nationals last month. In her first race in the month since then, she crushed the field by nine seconds at Texas Tech in 2:06.36. That’s the fastest junior college time of 2015, and in the top 25 for collegians of every level. Honorable mention: Courtney Robinson, Central Arizona NJCAA DIVISION III MEN – Brandon Gooden, Queensborough Freshman | Queens, New York Gooden continues the twoweek streak of 100 meter sprinters winning the NJCAA DIII NAOW. He took second in the 100 final at the TCNJ Tri Meet, running a divisonleading 10.77 seconds. NJCAA DIVISION III WOMEN – Bryea Rhodes, Montgomery Freshman | Damascus, Maryland Rhodes makes her meets count, as she’s averaged four events in per meet in her brief college career. Her most impressive performance yet came at the HopkinsLoyola Invitational, where she grabbed second in the high jump with a divisionleading 1.66m and won the long jump with a divisionleading 5.32m leap..