NCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships – Day Two Recap
Southland Conference
The 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships continued Thursday at historic Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene. Five Southland student-athletes were in action as Stephen F. Austin junior Demi Payne stole the show by capturing the NCAA Women’s Pole Vault Title and setting the NCAA Championship meet record.
Both Sam Houston State juniors Ashley Jenkins and Danielle Demas claimed NCAA second-team All-America honors as Jenkins advanced to the finals of the hammer throw and finished ninth, while Demas finished 10th in the 100-meter hurdles. Southeastern Louisiana junior Jermisha Frazier earned All-America honorable mention after finishing 17th in the women’s hammer throw, while Northwestern State junior Ashley Aldredge also claimed All-America honorable mention by taking 19th in the women’s javelin.
Thursday wrapped up the final day for Southland student-athletes at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships as the league was well represented with five total second-team All-Americans and a national champion in SFA’s Payne.
Stephen F. Austin (Demi Payne) at NCAA Outdoor Championships
Sam Houston State (Ashley Jenkins, Danielle Demas) at NCAA Outdoor Championships
Southeastern Louisiana (Jermisha Frazier) at NCAA Outdoor Championships
Northwestern State (Ashley Aldredge) at NCAA Outdoor Championships
Stephen F. Austin (Demi Payne) at NCAA Outdoor Championships
EUGENE, Ore. – Stephen F. Austin’s Demi Payne is the 2015 NCAA Women’s Pole Vault Champion, capping one of the best seasons in collegiate pole vault history. The junior used a winning height of 15-5 (4.70m) at Historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon on Thursday night to become SFA’s first NCAA Division I Champion in any sport in school history.
Payne becomes just the fifth Southland women’s track and field national champion and the first women’s pole vault NCAA title holder in league history. She also becomes the first Southland track and field national champion since 2011 when Northwestern State’s Trecey Rew claimed the NCAA women’s outdoor discus title.
Just as they drew it up, the competition came down to the best two women’s pole vaulters in collegiate history as Payne and Sandi Morris of Arkansas outlasted the field with clearances at 14-9 (4.50m).
Payne was perfect on her first six jumps on the night, ending with clean first attempts at 15-1, 15-3 and 15-5. Morris needed two jumps at 15-1 and 15-3 before bowing out with one miss at 15-5 and two more at 15-7.
Payne’s winning jump shattered the previous NCAA Outdoor Championship record by nearly 10 inches. The old standard of 14-7.25 (4.45m) was set in 2010.
Payne will now look to make the USA National Team at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in two weeks back at Hayward Field in Eugene. A trip to Beijing is on the line for the 2015 Outdoor World Championships later in the summer.
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Sam Houston State (Ashley Jenkins, Danielle Demas) at NCAA Outdoor Championships
EUGENE, Ore. – The second day of the NCAA National Track and Field Championships was a historic one for the Sam Houston State program as two more athletes earned All-American honors.
Ashley Jenkins advanced to the finals of the hammer throw and finished ninth while Danielle Demas finished 10th in the 100-meter hurdles. Both earned NCAA second-team All-America recognition.
Jenkins competed in the first flight of the hammer throw. The junior tossed 61.67 meters to finished second in her flight. She then had to wait and watch the remaining 12 competitors throw in the second flight to see if she would make the finals.
“I was glad I was able to make finals for my first time here,” Jenkins said. “I was hoping when I got to finals I would be able to have a big throw, but it just didn’t work out for me.”
Jenkins entered the finals sitting in 8th, which would qualify here for first-team All-America. But on the final round of throws, she was passed dropping here to ninth.
“While I didn’t finish like I would have wanted to, I am going to learn from this experience,” Jenkins said. “I know what I need to do to get here and shoot for the top three next time.”
For Demas, she entered Thursday’s semifinal looking for a place in the finals. Running in the third heat, Demas finished third, running a 13.05, missing the finals by just .01 seconds.
“I can definitely say I ran my race today,” said Demas after running a time just .03 seconds off her personal best. “I didn’t run as fast as I wanted, but I didn’t fall or fall out of the race so I am proud of myself.”
The Bearkats finish the NCAA Championship with three All-Americans, including Matthew Viverette on Wednesday in the 110-meter hurdles. Demas and Jenkins become the fourth and fifth Bearkat women to earn All-American at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Demas is the first non-field event athlete to earn the recognition. Viverette becomes the 10th Bearkat male to earn All-America and the first since 2013.
“We are leaving with three different All-Americans and we are disappointed,” said head coach Dave Self. “That is a good problem to have. We are setting expectations for ourselves to not just compete regionally but also at the national level. We came here to win.”
This is also the first time the Kats have had three All-Americans in the same season.
“We are taking this program to the next level and it takes performances like this to get the name out there,” Self said. “It was a historic year for us, but I expect to only get better moving forward.”
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Southeastern Louisiana (Jermisha Frazier) at NCAA Outdoor Championships
EUGENE, Ore. – Southeastern Louisiana junior Misha Frazier’s performance in the hammer throw allowed her to become the program’s third 2015 Outdoor Track and Field All-American Thursday at the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field.
Frazier earned honorable mention All-American honors after finishing 17th in the event. The top eight finishers earned first team accolades, while places nine through 16 were second team honorees.
Frazier, a Kenner native, is the first Lady Lion to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships since 2007. The last Southeastern women to compete at the national meet was Betsy Baldwin in the javelin.
Frazier, the Southland Conference champion in the shot put and a third-team All-Southland selection in both the hammer and discus, opened the event with what would result in her best throw of the day. Her throw of 190 feet, three inches (57.99 meters) bested her qualifying mark at last month’s NCAA East Preliminary Round by three inches.
Frazier’s opening throw was good enough for seventh place at the end of the opening flight. She was just shy of cracking second team All-America honors as 16th-place Jocelyn Williams topped her by just two inches.
Southeastern Illinois junior DeAnna Price won the event with a throw of 224-2. Price was joined on the first team All-America list by Princeton’s Julia Ratcliffe, Bowling Green’s Brooke Pleger, Oregon’s Jillian Weir, Oklahoma’s Julia Reedy, Kansas’ Daina Levy, Illinois State’s Jianna Williams and Missori’s Kearsten Peoples.
Frazier’s showing on Thursday capped a successful showing for the Lions at the NCAA Championships. On Wednesday, SLU junior Alex Young (10th) and senior Jonathan Kinchen (14th) both earned second team All-America recognition in the men’s hammer throw.
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Northwestern State (Ashley Aldredge) at NCAA Outdoor Championships
EUGENE, Ore. – The best, and worst, thing about Ashley Aldredge's first experience Thursday evening at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was that the Northwestern State junior javelin thrower missed All-America honors by 18 inches.
Capping a remarkable comeback season from 2012 reconstructive elbow surgery, Aldredge threw 153-7 on her first attempt into a headwind. That was her best mark and wound up 19th among the field of 24 national finalists. The top 16 will earn All-America recognition.
A throw of 155-2, which Aldredge topped twice two weeks earlier at the NCAA East Preliminary Round, would have been good enough. The Academic All-America nominee was disappointed but philosophical as she sat in the stands with her father and brother at storied Hayward Field watching the rest of Thursday evening's competition.
"If I would have thrown what I did at regionals, I'd be very happy right now," she said. "I wish I could have come home with that All-American award, but maybe next year. At least it left me hungry.
"I went out trying to do too much and I should have let my technique take over. I tried to throw it too hard instead of just letting it fly. I wish I had done it a little different, but I'll know better next year."
Aldredge's first of three throws was nearly perfect, said head coach Mike Heimerman, who has taken 10 NSU javelin throwers to the NCAA meet, with eight All-America certificates collected this century in the event.
"If she would have just finished her first throw … it was awfully close to perfect. It was a lot like her third throw (a season-best 158-0) at regionals. There was a pretty good headwind that probably cost her six feet today. That's the luck of the competition," he said.
"She was worried about fouling on the first one, I think, and then she was trying to put the horsepower on the throws, and wasn't as technically sound," said Heimerman. "She got aggressive, which we wanted her to do, and unfortunately had some technique breakdowns."
At the Southland Conference Championships May 8, Aldredge captured her second league title, along with one she won as a freshman in 2012, throwing with an injured elbow then. She had Tommy John surgery after the season and began to flash signs this spring, in her first full season back in competition, that her form was returning.
Her two biggest throws since the injury came at the regional meet two weeks earlier, earning her first trip to the NCAA meet. Heimerman saluted her comeback, which lifted her among the nation's best 24 throwers and will earn her honorable mention All-America recognition.
"We were hoping to make All-America today, and it was very, very close. She just needed less than two feet and she would have been there. But it's still a really good year, an amazing comeback, really," he said. "She came a long way, especially in the last few weeks, winning the conference championship and getting to the national meet. She was one of the best of the best. She made it back to the national stage. We're very proud of what she accomplished this season."
It was far from a wasted trip, she said.
"The experience was a lot of fun. At first I didn't think I was going to like it (competing in front of 18,000 fans at Hayward Field), but the noise, the energy, even if they're not cheering for you, it's a fun atmosphere and you feel blessed to be out there in the middle of it," said the NSU graduate student. "I've had amazing support from not only my family, my friends and my teammates, but a lot of people and I truly appreciate it."
After her 153-7 opening effort, Aldredge threw 151-1 in the second round and 143-2 with her final attempt.
Virginia Tech sophomore Irena Sediva won with a 192-9 throw. Aldredge's career best mark of 166-0 as a freshman at the 2012 Drake Relays would have been 10th, and her 158-0 two weeks ago at the East Preliminary Round would have placed 11th. Stanford sophomore Victoria Smith snagged 16th and the last All-America honors with a 155-1 mark.
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