By GERARD WELLBROCK
Hays Post

HAYS, Kan. – Hadley Gillum recorded his fourth straight 20-point game and Fort Hays State closed on a 13-5 run after Northeastern State tied the game with 3:35 to play and the Tigers held off the upset-minded RiverHawks 61-53 Monday night at Gross Coliseum to advance to the MIAA Tournament quarterfinals in Kansas City.

The Tigers (18-10), who hit six of their eight free throw attempts in the final minute, held the RiverHawks (5-23) to nine points over the final eight minutes.

Mark Johnson Postgame Interview

Hadley Gillum Postgame Interview

Game Highlights

The Tigers struggled to get separation from the RiverHawks the entire second half, never leading by more than five until the final two minutes of the game. NSU gained the lead once at the 8:08 mark, but Trey O’Neil answered with a 3-pointer with 4:48 which gave the Tigers the lead back.

Tied 48-48 with 3:35 to play, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run, triggered by a pair of baskets from JaQuan Smith and Hadley Gillum to push the margin to six with 1:37 to play. .

Hadley Gillum led the Tigers with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Rob Davis, who earlier in the day was named to the All-MIAA first team for the second straight year, scored 12 as did Trey O’Neil. JaQuan Smith chipped in with 10.

Tanner Mouse led the RiverHawks with 14 points.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State Men’s Basketball had three players named to the All-MIAA Team on Monday. Senior guard Rob Davis was a repeat first team selection, while junior forward Hadley Gillum and senior forward JaQuan Smith were honorable mention picks. Smith was also named to the MIAA All-Defensive Team.

Davis earns the repeat first-team nod as one of the top scorers in NCAA Division II throughout the season, currently averaging 21.9 points per game. He has reached at least 30 points in eight games this year and at least 20 points in 16 games. He reached double figures in 24 of 27 regular season games and has a total of 590 points this season. Davis produced a career-high 42 points at Emporia State on February 1, tying the sixth-highest scoring performance in school history. He became the 19^th player in school history to reach 1,000 points, passing the mark in early February, then passed 2,000 points for his entire collegiate career this past Thursday (Feb. 23).

Gillum earns the first All-MIAA honor of his career with the honorable mention nod. He ranks 15^th in the conference in scoring at 13.4 points per game and 11^th in rebounding at 6.3 per game. He has scored in double figures 17 times this year and reached 20 or more in a game seven times, including a career-high 27 points at Central Oklahoma. He has five double-doubles in points and rebounds to his credit this year as well.

In his only season with the Tigers, Smith earns both All-MIAA Honorable Mention and MIAA All-Defensive Team honors. Coaches voted Smith as one of five players on the all-defensive team. He ranks sixth in the MIAA in rebounding at 6.6 per game and sixth in blocked shots at 1.2 per game. He ranks third in scoring for FHSU at 7.9 points per game. Smith has three double-doubles in points and rebounds this season, reaching a season-high 17 points against Lincoln and 13 rebounds at Northeastern State. He blocked two or more shots in a game 11 times this year and has a total of 33 for the season.

2016-17 All-MIAA Men’s Basketball Team

Player of the Year
Justin Pitts, G, Jr., NWMSU

Defensive Player of the Year
Brady Skeens, F, Jr., WU

Freshman of the Year
Elyjah Clark, F, Fr., MSSU

Coach of the Year
Ben McCollum, NWMSU

All-MIAA First Team
Justin Pitts, G, Jr., NWMSU**$
Rob Davis, G, Sr., FHSU %
Anthony Virdure, G, Sr., LU
Brady Skeens, F, Jr., WU
Trey Lansman, C, Jr., UNK
**Unanimous Selection
% Two time repeat First Team Selection
$ Three time repeat First Team Selection

All-MIAA Second Team
Spencer Reaves, G, Jr., UCM
CJ Carr, G, Jr., MSSU
Zach Schneider, F, Sr., NWMSU
Chandler Diekvoss, F, So., LWU
Corbin Byford, F, Sr., UCO

All-MIAA Third Team
Jaylon Smith, G, Sr., LU
Chris Ebou-Ndow, G, Jr., NWMSU
Brandon Hall, G, So., ESU
Kyle Wolfe, F, Sr., UCM
Logan Hovey, F, Jr., SBU

All-Defensive Team
Brady Skeens, F, Jr., WU
Marquiez Lawrence, F, Sr., UCM
JaQuan Smith, F, Sr, FHSU
Bakari Triggs, G, Jr., LWU
Chris Ebou-Ndow, G, Jr., NWMSU

Honorable Mention All-MIAA
Marquiez Lawrence, UCM
Jake Hammond, UCO
Josh Holiday, UCO
Josh Pedersen, ESU
JaQuan Smith, FHSU
Hadley Gillium, FHSU
Jackson Price, LWU
Elyjah Clark, MSSU
JJ Cratit, MSSU
Lawrence Brown, MSSU
Cole Clearman, MWSU
Yashua Trent, UNK
Isaiah MaKay, UNK
Ty Danielson, UNK
Montre’ Williams, NSU
Anthony Woods, NWMSU
DeVonte Mosby, NWMSU
Javion Blake, WU
Brian Patterson, SBU

Results

JOPLIN, Mo. – The Fort Hays State men’s track and field team had a strong showing at the MIAA Championships with four All-MIAA performers and two individual champions. Dillando Allotey (200 meters) and Decano Cronin (600 yards) earned individual titles, helping the team finish.

Allotey was crowned the MIAA Champion in the 200-meter dash after he crossed the finish line in a time of 21.70 seconds. Due to the track size, it improved his provisional time to 21.32 seconds after getting converted. He still ranks eighth in the nation on the performance list. He also tallied the most team points for the Tigers individually (14), also picking up a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.48 seconds. It was also a provisional time, but not better than his best mark this year that has him ranked 48^th nationally.

Cronin was another Tiger to pick up an MIAA Championship, doing so in the 600-yard run. He earned the title crossing the finish line with a time of 1:12.03, more than a quarter of a second faster than the runner-up.

Brett Meyer earned All-MIAA honors thanks to his second-place finish in the 800-meter run. Meyer crossed the line in a time of 1:56.18, two seconds back of the winner and just .18 seconds in front of the third-place finisher. He still has the third-fastest time in the nation in the event this year. Cronin has the second fastest time and both are automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in the event.

Kolt Newell earned his first All-MIAA indoor honor when he claimed second place in the high jump. Newell cleared a height of 6 feet, 8 inches which is a provisional mark, but shy of the 6 feet, 9.5 inches he cleared earlier in the year. He currently ranks 20^th on the national performance list.

Allotey, Meyer, Cronin and Isreal Barco combined for a fourth-place finish in the 4×400 medley relay with a time of 3:22.67.

Other individuals generating team points for the Tigers were Layton Werth (7th-5,000 meters, 8th-3,000 meters), Kyle Comstock (8th-60 meter hurdles), Sam Dreiling (6th-pole vault), and Matthew Pieper (8th-heptathlon).

Pittsburg State took home the team title with 121. 5 points followed by Lincoln with 119 points and Missouri Southern with 102 points to round out the top three. FHSU finished with 54.5 points.

Team Standings
1. Pittsburg State – 121.5
2. Lincoln – 119
3. Missouri Southern – 102
4. Central Missouri – 88
5. Fort Hays State – 54.5
6. Nebraska-Kearney – 50.5
7. Emporia State – 42
8. Northwest Missouri – 40
9. Lindenwood – 39.5
10. Washburn – 33
11. Southwest Baptist – 9

Results

JOPLIN, Mo. – The Fort Hays State women’s track and field team finished eighth at the MIAA Indoor Championships in Joplin, Mo. Micki Krzesinski was the lone All-MIAA performer at the meet for the FHSU women, taking third in the 5,000-meter run.

Krzesinski hit a provisional mark with her time of 17:34.19 in the 5,000 meters, but already owns a faster time this year at 17:20.02. Krzesinski just missed all-conference honors in the 3,000 meters by placing fourth in a time of 10:12.49, just under four seconds behind the third-place finisher. Krzesinski generated 15 team points for FHSU in the two distance events. She currently ranks 30^th on the national performance list in the 5,000 meters.

Kelly Wycoff added seven team points thanks to a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter dash and a sixth place finish in the 200-meter dash. Both performances improved her provisional marks, which were converted due to track size. A 57.25 second finish in the 400 converted down to 56.50 seconds, and a 25.24 second time in the prelims of the 200 meters converted down to 24.86 seconds. She now ranks 41^st on the national performance list in the 400 and 52^nd in the 200.

Selam Ball placed eighth in the pole vault and upped her provisional mark to 12 feet, 1.25 inches. It was just three-quarters of an inch shy of the school record. The effort moved her to 26th on the national performance list.

Lauren Roberts picked up five team points for FHSU with her fourth-place finish in the mile with a personal best time of 5:10. She also picked up a point for the Tigers in the 800 meters. Shea Bonine generated five team points in the 5,000 meters finishing fourth, three seconds back of Krzesinski.

Pittsburg State took home the team title with 170 points followed by Southwest Baptist with 99 points and Missouri Southern with 72 points to round out the top three. FHSU finished with 37 points.

Final Standings
1. Pittsburg State – 170
2. Southwest Baptist – 99
3. Missouri Southern – 72
4. Lincoln – 70
5. Central Missouri – 68.5
6. Lindenwood – 44.5
7. Nebraska-Kearney – 41
8. Fort Hays State – 37
9. Northwest Missouri – 34.5
10. Emporia State – 30.75
11. Central Oklahoma – 24.75
12. Washburn – 10

GOLDEN, Colo. – Fort Hays State is sending four wrestlers to the NCAA Division II Championships on Friday and Saturday in Birmingham, Ala. After the conclusion of the NCAA West Super Regional on Saturday.  At the NCAA West Super Regional on Saturday (Feb. 25), Brandon Ball claimed the 141-pound title while Jon Inman (197) finished runner-up for the second consecutive year. Greg Tooley (157) placed third and Christian Lance (285) was fourth. 

After going 3-0 on day one and sealing his birth at nationals, 11^th-ranked Ball cruised to a 6-2 decision in the finals over Joshua Ailey from Central Oklahoma. With the regional title, Ball becomes the first Tiger since Trey Page (285 pounds) in 2014-15 to claim a super-regional title.

Inman, the No. 3 ranked wrestler at 197 pounds advances to the NCAA National Championships for the fourth year in a row. The second-place finish by Inman ties his career-best at the regional after finishing runner-up last year at 184 pounds. Inman only had to wrestle in the finals on Saturday (Feb. 25) but came out on the short end of a 5-2 decision against Jacob Waste, the No. 1 ranked wrestler at 197 pounds.

Tooley, the No. 3 ranked wrestler at 157 pounds bounced back strong on day two after going 2-1 on Friday to slip to the consolation bracket. He dominated the two matches he wrestled on his way to a third-place finish. Tooley picked up an 18-1 technical fall in the consolation semifinals before punching his ticket to the NCAA Championships with a 15-3 major decision over Kyle Fantin of Colorado State-Pubelo.

Christian Lance started the day in the consolation bracket by dropping a 3-1 decision to Paul Head of California Baptist. Luckily, at the regional tournament wrestlers have a chance to win a “true fourth place” so he had another shot to advance to nationals but needed some luck on his side and two consecutive wins. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened. After winning the fifth-place match with a   2-0 decision, Lance had to have Paul Head of California Baptist win the third place match to force a true fourth-place bout. Head complied knocking off Chadron State’s Cooper Cogdill. Lance would then get the better of Cogdill in the fourth-place match with a 3-1 decision.

FHSU Sports Information