Johnson City, TN – Jordan Arnold and Matt Ditzler both advanced through Thursday’s semi-final round of the 5,000 meter into Saturday afternoon’s final.
The top four competitors in each heat plus the next four fastest times made it through to the Saturday afternoon final. Arnold and Ditzler both finished fourth in their heat to grab one of the four automatic qualifying spots. “Jordan ran a gutsy race, overcoming health problems and still qualified for the finals,” said Coach Peterson. “Considering this is her first collegiate track season, it is amazing what she has achieved.”
Not to be outdone, teammate Matt Ditzler executed a near perfect race and also qualified for Saturday’s final. “Matt qualified for his first career national final in track. He looked smooth and confident and is ready for a great final.”
Also is the men’s 5,000 meter race, junior Dan Neidlinger suffered an equipment malfunction as he lost a shoe early into the competition. Neidlinger was forced to drop out of the race.
In other action, the women’s 4x800 meter relay crushed their own existing indoor school record and turned in a faster time than any Friends University outdoor relay has ever recorded, but failed to advance to the finals.
Surprisingly, the squad’s 9:26 missed the cut by two teams. Megan Shepherd, Kristie Adams, Lanae Kidd and Sara Wiebe finished tenth in the preliminary round. “Megan ran a beautiful leadoff, 2:19, bringing us in first,” said Coach Peterson. “This was a five second PR for Megan. Kristie then dropped four seconds off her PR (2:23), and Lanae ran another amazing split (2:17) to put us with the leaders. Then Sara ran her best indoor time of her career with a 2:25.” The top two teams in each heat and the next two fastest times advanced. Friends University had the fastest non-automatic qualifying time before the third and final heat when the third and fourth place teams turned in faster times.
Action continues tomorrow with Megan Shepherd in the 600 meter semi-final, eighth ranked Lanae Kidd in the 800 meter semi-final and Damian Berry in the 400 meter semi-final.
In addition to all of the finalists, three field event competitors will wrap up competition on Saturday afternoon. Quentin Benning will throw the shot put at 1:00 while Doug Pierce and second ranked Sara Wiebe will compete at 1:30 in the triple jump and high jump, respectively.
Friday, March 5
3:10 PM, Men’s 400 Semi (Damian Berry, 50.07)
3:25 PM, Women’s 600 Semi (Megan Shepherd, 1:37.41)
4:15 PM, Women’s 800 Semi (Lanae Kidd, 2:20.81)
Saturday, March 6
1:00 PM, Men’s 400 FINAL
1:00 PM, Men’s Shot Put Prelim & FINAL (Quentin Benning, 49-01.50)
1:05 PM, Women’s 600 FINAL
1:30 PM, Women’s 800 FINAL
1:30 PM, Men’s Triple Jump Prelim & FINAL (Doug Pierce, 46-07.50)
1:30 PM, Women’s High Jump Prelim & FINAL (Sara Wiebe, 5-07)
2:45 PM, Women’s 5,000 FINAL (Jordan Arnold)
3:10 PM, Men’s 5,000 FINAL (Matt Ditzler)
To follow the Falcons live on CFPI TIMING and watch competition footage at FLOTRACK, please click here.