Summit League at NCAA Indoors

Cam Levins of Southern Utah placed 3rd in the 3000m and 4th in the 5000m.  Both finishes garner him All-American status to go with his 4th place finish at NCAA Cross Country.  Cam also set a personal best, indoors or out, in the 5000 with a time of 13:38



Jack Whitt of Oral Roberts finished in third place with a vault of just over 18 feet.  This is Jack's fourth All-American Honor in the Pole Vault.

Leslie Brost, a Watertown native and NDSU athlete, placed 4th in the women's Pole Vault.  She improved her personal best by 5 cm to 4.35m.

Clive Chafausipo, also of Oral Roberts, placed 6th in the Long Jump with a leap of 25-7.  Clive defeated Jared Vlastuin of SDSU by 1 cm at the Summit League.  This performance was essentially his best ever because his outdoor best is wind aided.

It is interesting that all of the Summit League athletes that qualified exceeded their seed places and many set personal bests.  It is also interesting that all but one of the athletes are on teams that are leaving the conference and the other is graduating.  This is a very good year in The Summit League Track and it will be interesting to see who steps up to make it next year.  Here are a few athletes that I think have the best chance:

Mary Wirth, SDSU- Mary nearly qualified for the final round of the NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring after a strong performance at Regionals.

Travis Fitzke, NDSU- Fitzke will have to make a big jump going into his 5th year but it is within reach.

Ashlynn Simon, NDSU- Simon was only 4 seconds off the Auto-Q time and is only a redshirt freshmen.

Deborah John, NDSU- John dominated the hurdles in the Summit League all year and has the best time by .2 seconds.

SDSU and NDSU DMR- Both teams will have the fire power to run a fast DMR next year.  The right race could see one of these teams make it.

Jamario Taylor, Western Illinois- Jamario is over 7 feet in the high jump and is only 10 cm from the auto qualifer as a sophomore.

Kyle Ballew, South Dakota- Ballew is overshadowed by Jack Whitt but he is still fairly close to qualifying and has two year to get there.

Emily Grove, South Dakota- Derek Miles has been good at recruiting and coaching Vaulters.  Grove was only 7 inches behind Brost as a true freshman.

Shot Putters, South Dakota- McKelvey and Snyder were ranked 1 and 2 in the Summit as Freshman.  If they get stronger they could qualify.