Photo Credit | Tyler Chong (From TeamAU, thank you Tyler!)
HANOVER, In.--- Sophomore
Katherine Stanley powered the day for Asbury In their fourth meet of the 2023 season, qualifying for the NCCAA National Championship with her 5000 meter performance.
Asbury track and field traveled to Hanover, In., on Saturday afternoon to compete in the nine-team Hanover Invitational. The women's team finished right in the middle of the pack, fifth out of nine teams with 29 points. Hanover College secured the win on the women's side.
The Asbury men's team finished ninth on the day with 20 points, just behind the 21 points scored from Earlham and Transylvania. Thomas More won the men's competition.
A powerful cold wind blowing throughout the competition destroyed the opportunity for most competitors to record good performance times in their races.
Despite the challenging conditions, Asbury's
Katherine Stanley ran the fifth fasted time in Asbury's history for the 5000 meter run. Her time of 20:19.55 qualified her for the postseason NCCAA National Championship competition.
Also achieving an NCCAA National qualifier was Asbury freshman
Davis Brown, with a time of 1:58.50 in the 800 meter run. This is now his second event for Nationals having previously qualified in the 1500 meter run.
Asbury's lone victory of the day was earned by the men's 4x400 Relay team consisting of
Sam Webb,
Luke Holton, Brown, and
Luke Wheatley. Wheatley finished off the race with an anchor leg of 50.3 seconds.
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Katherine Stanley 5000 meter time of 20:19.55 (5th fasted in AU history) qualified her for the postseason NCCAA National Championship.
*
Davis Brown qualified for his second National Championship event with a time of 1:58.50 in the 800 meter run.
* Asbury's victory on the day was earned by the men's 4x400 Relay team consisting of
Sam Webb,
Luke Holton, Brown, and
Luke Wheatley. Wheatley finished off the race with an anchor leg of 50.3 seconds.
"Coach Bridges and I greatly appreciated the effort and attitude of our team on what was really a pretty miserable day for a track meet. The wind gusts literally knocked some athletes off their feet today. There are other outdoor sports of course that compete in bad weather conditions, but I don't know of another where the competition goes on for six hours. Most of the athletes from our team, and all of the other teams, had performances a long way off of their personal bests. That made the 5000 meter race by Kat even more amazing. She was so excited after her race for getting that qualifying time, and we were thrilled for her."
Randy Crist | Men's and Women's Track and Field Assistant Coach
Asbury's next meet is in Danville, Ky., at the Centre College Invitational on April 1.
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