SOUTH PLAINS' POLE VAULT GOES OT TO CLAIM NATIONAL TITLE

The seventh game of the World Series couldn’t have had much more drama than the women’s pole vault at the 2009 NJCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday at Gowans Stadium.

South Plains’ Kelsey Wilson and Paradise Valley’s Lauren Cruzan were deadlocked after both cleared 11 feet, 8.5 inches, which meant a jump-off between the two. It took seven rounds of head-to-head jump-offs before Wilson cleared 3.52 meters on the seventh round to win the title.

Wilson was one of two South Plains athletes to capture individual national titles on Friday and put the Lady Texans in position to win the team championship on Saturday.

South Plains has a 25.5 point lead on second-place Mesa Community College and a 31-point lead on defending national champion Central Arizona. Through eight of 22 events, the Lady Texans have 57 points and nine entries in Saturdays’ running finals.

South Plains has two No. 1 qualifiers – Shakeeri Cole in the 800 (2:20.83) and the 4x400 relay team of Angelle Miranda, Deandra Knowles, Edina Brooks and Cole (3:44.85).

Kelly Closse was the other Lady Texan to win an individual national title on Friday. She took the women’s shot put in dominating fashion, going 52 feet, 8.25 inches.

Iowa Central’s A.G. Bradford completed a wire-to-wire finish to capture the 2009 Heptathlon championship. Bradford racked up 5,332 points, winning 5 of the 7 events. South Plains’ Colleen Felix was second with 5,178 points.

Southwest Mississippi sprinter Sheniqua Ferguson put herself in position to repeat her 100 and 200 meter championships from 2008. She is the No. 1 qualifier for the finals in both events. Ferguson ran the 100 preliminaries on Friday in 11.51 seconds and the 200 in 23.78 seconds.

Southwest Mississippi has a corner on the top rankings in the individual sprints. Rebecca Alexander is the top qualifier in the 400 meters after a time of 54.67 seconds.

By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Friday, May 22, 2009