The University of Redlands track & field teams hosted its annual Final Qualifier on Ashel Cunningham Track in Ted Runner Stadium on Wednesday and Thursday in fine fashion. Amidst school records and nationally-ranked marks, the Bulldogs fired off solid results with hopes of qualifying for or improving their standings in the upcoming NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships.
For the women, senior Reyna Ta'amu (Lakewood, CA) repeated her school-record effort at this meet as she did a year ago. This time, she unleashed a winning mark of 49' 8 ½" in the Shot Put to improve upon the Bulldogs' standard and rank her second among NCAA Division III.
Senior Vanessa Blanchard (Palmdale, CA) rose in the rankings list as well, as she cleared a first-place height of 5' 6 ½" in the High Jump for eighth in the nation.
Sophomore Chyenne Kimble (Big Bear Lake, CA) put together an outstanding meet with success in the Heptathlon and the sprints. While scoring 4,010 points in the multis to finish second, she ran a blistering time of 14.41 in the 100 Hurdles, which places her 17th in Division III. She also uncorked a school-record-tying time of 12.10 in the 100 Meters to land 18th in the nation and recorded the 20th-fastest time in the 200 at 24.86.
Additional highlights include senior Justine Keller's (Portland, OR) 800 time of 2:15.73 for the fastest of her career and first-year Brenna Dolen's (Redlands, CA) winning Triple Jump of 36' 5 ½", which was just a ¼" off her best mark of the season.
The men saw first-year Tucker Cargile (Denver, CO) move up the national list with a time of 1:51.44 in the 800 Meters, which landed him second at the meet and 15th in Division III. Junior Nick Burchett (Gold River, CA) fired off his season-best time in the 400 Hurdles at 53.47 for the 26th-fastest mark in the country.
Junior Luke Bohlinger (Mercer Island, WA) registered solid times in the 100 (fourth place - 10.48) and 200 (first place - 21.30), while sophomore Jordan Washecheck (Tulsa, OK) won the 400 Meters in 48.84.
In addition, senior Wyatt Pannabecker (Choteau, MT) took home the gold in the Triple Jump with his leap of 46' 10 ¾".
Finally, senior Afari La-Anyane (Morgan Hill, CA) impressed in the Decathlon with six, first-place results for a winning score of 5,346 points. Throughout the two-day competition, he recorded career-bests in the Pole Vault at 14' 3 ¼" and in the Long Jump at 21' 1 ½".
Redlands now awaits the official word from the NCAA as to which student-athletes qualify for the NCAA Championships, which take place on May 24-26 in La Crosse, WI. The announcement will be made at NCAA.com on Saturday, May 19, at 9 a.m. ET.