Lopez shatters FHSU Javelin record with nation’s best throw; Keehn breaks school record in 10,000 meters

FHSU Athletics

Estafania Lopez shattered the FHSU women’s javelin record on Saturday at the ESU Relays in Emporia, Kan. Lopez posted the nation’s best mark in the event so far, throwing 169’7.25″. She helped the Tigers to a fifth-place finish at the meet.

Lopez topped the school’s previous “new model” javelin record of 160’9″ set by Makayla McPhail in 2012. Teammate Madison Wolf had thrown the second-best effort in the nation last week at the Alex Francis Classic in Hays at 160’3″, but Lopez moved into the top spot nationally by over nine feet. Wolf finished third in the event on Saturday with a throw of 145’11.5″, while Megan Honas was fourth with a throw of 143’6.75″ to move up the national provisional mark list.

FHSU won three other events at the meet. Danille Berry posted a provisional qualifying mark in the high jump, winning with a height of 5’7″. That ties the seventh-best effort nationally so far. Alex Keehn won the 5,000 meters in a time of 18:49.53 to top a field of six runners. The 4×800-meter relay team won in a time of 10:18.25.

The Tigers scored 83 points as a team to finish fifth out of 14 teams. Missouri-Kansas City won the meet with 181 points, while Central Missouri was second at 124.5 points.

Keehn breaks school record in 10,000 meters
Fort Hays State’s Cory Keehn broke the FHSU 10,000-Meter Run Record and posted the third-fastest time nationally in the event at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday. The majority of the track team was in action at the ESU Relays in Emporia, Kan., where the Tigers took sixth as a team.

Keehn ran a time of 29:44.68 in the event to finish second and post a solid provisional qualifying mark. He was just three seconds off the pace of unattached runner Andreas Ahwall. Keehn topped two other runners that ran sub-30:00, Blake Taneff of Ohio State and Aaron Mora of Chico State. Teammate Jonny Burnansky finished 16th in the event in 30:30.08, also obtaining a provisional mark. Michael Kinuthia was just three-tenths of a second short of getting a provisional in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:52.35.

Fort Hays State generated 57 points as a team at the ESU Relays in Emporia, Kan., finishing sixth out of 12 teams. FHSU did not have any top three finishers individually, but had one fourth-place and three fifth-place finishers. The 4×800-meter relay team finished third.