CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Before rain and lightning suspended competition on the second day of the NCAA Division II track and field championships Friday,
Desmond Jackson of Abilene Christian University was one of three heat winners in the men's 200 qualifying.
Jackson ran 21.18 to join heat winners Josh Scott (20.72) of St. Augustine's and Damein White (21.20) of Cal State-Los Angeles in Saturday's final.
Two members of the Wildcat women's team,
Wanda Hutson and
Kim Prather, failed to advance in the women's 200.
The 200 trials were the only events completed Friday night because of inclement weather. Saturday's revised schedule calls for field events at 10 a.m. and running events at 5:10 p.m.
Also scheduled to compete Friday were
Destinee Nixon and
Amanda Clemons in the women's triple jump final and
Amos Sang in the men's 5,000 qualifying. The events without prelims because of weather (800, 100 hurdles, 110 hurdles, 5,000 and 1,600 relay) will be contested Saturday as timed finals in sections.
In the race for the men's team trophy, Central Missouri got 16 points in the decathlon Friday to lead with a total of 22 followed by Hillsdale with 19, Abilene Christian with 17, Ashland with 14 and Alaska-Anchorage with 11 in the top five.
The multi-events were completed Friday before the rain, thunder and lightning arrived in the Charlotte area.
In the decathlon,
James Hardin moved from eighth after the first day to sixth in Friday's final standings, his best finish ever for the Wildcats at the NCAA meet. He scored 6,718 points. Darius Walker of Central Missouri was the winner with 7,222, and Lone Star Conference champion Eldon Grimslid of West Texas A&M was eighth in 6,535.
Hardin opened Friday with 15.46 in the hurdles then followed with 122-1 in the discus, 14-11 in the pole vault, 160-6 in the javelin and 5:00.16 in the 1,500 meters.
"I had some good things, but the hurdles and javelin killed me," the senior from Longview said. "I usually do better in those two events. But I'm sixth in the nation so I can't complain. Going in I was ranked eighth."
Hardin hit a hurdle in the middle of the 110-meter race, causing him to stumble.
"I nearly fell," he said. "That cost me about 100 points. But the decathlon is like that. You never know what is going to happen.
"It's not how I wanted to do," he continued. "I wanted to PR (personal record) in every event, but I didn't get one. But I can't be too mad because I had a pretty consistent day."
Jessica Withrow also finished her Wildcat career in the multi-events with a 2010 best of 5,062 points in the heptathlon. That was better than the score of 5,041 that she won with here in 2007, but Friday it was good for only 10th in a competition that featured a record 11 Division II athletes over 5,000 points.
Aisha Adams and Chrystal Ruiz of Angelo State finished 1-2. Adams successfully defended her title with 5,698 points, and she and Ruiz became only the third set of teammates to finish 1-2 in the 29-year history of NCAA Division II women's track and field.
Withrow opened Friday's meet with 17-3.5 in the long jump, threw 107-7 in the javelin and finished with 2:19.66 in the 800. A recent graduate of Abilene Christian, Withrow said she is retiring from competition to become assistant coach for girls track and field at Sweetwater High School.
Defending champion
Linda Brivule of Abilene Christian will compete Saturday in the women's javelin trying to become the first three-time winner of that event.
Other Wildcats on Saturday's schedule are
Tyler Fleet and
Paige Newby in the discus,
Landon Ehlers and
Aaron Cantrell in the pole vault,
Ramon Sparks in the triple jump, Jackson and Hutson in the 100,
Anais Belledant in the 1,500, and the women's 4x100 relay.
