FHSU Athletics
Fort Hays State had three athletes earn All-America status on Saturday (May 23) at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Allendale, Mich. Estefania Lopez and Madison Wolf finished second and fourth respectively in the women’s javelin, while Brady Tien took sixth in the men’s pole vault.
On her first attempt, Lopez broke the NCAA Championship site record with a throw of 170-feet, 8-inches. It passed the mark of 169-feet, 9-inches set by Linda Brivule of Abilene Christian in 2008. However, the record would not stand for long when Allison Updike of Azusa Pacific began her day as a member of the second flight of throwers. Updike posted a new record on her first attempt at 171-feet, 5-inches.
Madison Wolf took just one attempt to throw 161-feet, 4-inches and sit in third after the first flight of competition. No other throwers besides Updike in the second flight would top that effort in their first three attempts, leaving her in fourth going into the finals, where the field was reduced to nine throwers.
Megan Honas punched her ticket into the final round of throwers by hitting a personal best of 152-feet, 10-inches on her second attempt of the day. However, she would foul her next three throws and couldn’t top the mark on her sixth and final attempt of the day, leaving her just shy of All-America status in ninth. Just a sophomore, Honas continued to get stronger and stronger as the season progressed and she gave the Tigers three finishers in the Top 10 at nationals.
Gritting through a nagging injury, Wolf took one more attempt on the day in the finals and threw 162-feet, 6-inches, a new personal best to secure fourth place. Also just a sophomore, it was a two-place improvement for Wolf after finishing sixth at the NCAA Championships last year as a true freshman.
Lopez reached 170 feet one more time on her fourth attempt of the day, but could not top Updike for first place. Updike then left no doubt with an unbelievable toss of 181-feet, 10-inches to obliterate the NCAA Championship site record by over 12 feet. Lopez’s effort of 170-feet, 8-inches broke her own FHSU record in the new model javelin, set earlier this season. By finishing second, Lopez gave FHSU its third national runner-up in the event over the last four years (two times by Makayla McPhail – 2012 & 2013).
Brady Tien had a great day at the championships as well, securing All-America status by clearing 16-feet, 10.75-inches in the pole vault. He finished alone in sixth in the standings. He avoided elimination by clearing 16-feet, 2.75-inches on his third and final attempt at the height, then went on to clear 16-feet, 6.75-inches and 16-feet, 10.75-inches on his second attempts at each height. Tien could not clear 17-feet, 2.75-inches, which would have broken his school record, but he had already secured All-American status after three of the nine competitors missed at 16-feet, 10.75-inches. Tien grabbed the second All-America honor of his career at FHSU as he also finished sixth nationally in the 2014 indoor season.
Fort Hays State had three other athletes compete at the championships. On Thursday evening, Cory Keehn finished 17th in the men’s 10,000 meter run with a time of 31:10.51. On Friday, Danielle Berry finished 11th in the women’s high jump, clearing a height of 5-feet, 5-inches. On Saturday, Brenner Wells threw 192-feet, 1-inch in the men’s javelin to finish 17th.