Track and Field Posts Another Solid Day in Albuquerque

Friday, February 3

Albuquerque, NM

Grand Canyon

New Mexico Classic

Brittany Warren reached an NCAA provisional mark in the pole vault at the New Mexico Classic.

Track and Field Posts Another Solid Day in Albuquerque

2/4/2012 10:50:00 PM | Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

The Grand Canyon University men's and women's track teams today completed the final day of action at the New Mexico Classic, hosted by the University of New Mexico at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

"I am especially pleased today with the performances of Tyler Sipes, Dominique Hubert, Amber Yingling, Brittany Warren and the women's 4x400 meter relay," said head coach Tom Flood.

The 'Lopes collected six NCAA automatic qualifying marks and 13 provisional qualifiers at the meet, which consisted of teams from New Mexico, Southern Utah, Air Force, UNLV, Kansas State and CSU-Pueblo, as well as several unattached athletes.

"Again, we had some very outstanding performances despite another heavy week of training and some very talented unattached athletes competing this weekend," Flood added. "I decided not to double many athletes this weekend and pulled Shavine (Hodges) out of the 60-meter finals for precautionary reasons."

Sipes finished second in the 60-meter hurdles with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 7.80, which is the fastest in the nation among Division II athletes.

"Tyler had another outstanding time without running a perfectly technical race," said Flood. "When he does, he should run in the 7.65 range."

Hubert won the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.67, which is not only an NCAA automatic qualifier, but also the top time in the nation.

"Dominique makes it look so easy and it's scary because he still has plenty of room for improvement," Flood added.

On the women's side, Yingling placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 12.41 meters (40 feet, 8 and one-fourth inches), which is an NCAA automatic mark and the second-best in the nation.

"I am very happy for Amber so far this season," Flood said. "She has worked very hard and that work is reflected in her performances.

Warren placed fifth among collegiate athletes in a loaded pole vault event with a mark of 3.74 meters (12 feet, 3 and one-fourth inches). Her vault reached an NCAA provisional mark and is the eighth-best in the nation.

"It was very nice to finally see Brittany over 12-feet," said Flood. "She had some very nice attempts at 12 feet, 8 inches as well."

The women's 4x400-meter relay squad of Sarah Stemm, Shavine Hodges and Petra Fanty finished second with a time of 3:45.18, which is a provisional qualifier and the top time in the country.

Other notable performances included Fanty, who took third among collegiate competitors with a time of 55.55 in the 400-meter dash, which is a provisional mark and third-best in the nation; Tonique Sobah and Ann-Marie Duffus, who both posted provisional times in the 60-meter hurdles with 8.57, which is tied for sixth-best in the country; Callie Davis, who reached a provisional qualifier in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.87; AAron Hill, who finished fourth in the 60-meter dash with a provisional qualifying time of 6.86; Oliver Smith, whose third place finish among collegiate competitors in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.34 is the ninth-best in the nation and also a provisional mark; and the men's 4x400-meter relay team of Hill, Smith, Hubert and Clark Coyle, who finished second with a provisional time of 3:17.88.

"This weekend and next at the Air Force Academy will be very difficult back to back two day meets as we prepare for Nationals," added Flood.

The 'Lopes will next be in action when they travel to Colorado Springs, Colo. for the Air Force Invitational on Feb. 10-11.