2012 Outdoor Track & Field Athletes of the Week
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Carmen Graves, Roanoke, Junior, Mid-Distance
April 16, 2012Graves, a junior from Christiansburg, Va., made plenty of noise in her spring debut at the Sea Ray Relays hosted by the University of Tennessee. She ran in the featured "Showcase 800-meter Race" against several top ranked NCAA Division I runners and professional athletes. She placed 8th overall, breaking her own ODAC and Roanoke records with a time of 2:08.51, more than nine seconds faster than the next closest runner in the ODAC seasonal rankings. Her time is also the best in NCAA Division III this season by over a 1.5 seconds. -
Dan Nafziger, Eastern Mennonite, Sophomore, Steeplechase
April 16, 2012Nafziger, a sophomore from Harrisonburg, Va., tried his hand at the 3000-meter steeplechase on Saturday, and broke the school record in the event in his first try. Nafziger crossed in 9:55.04, breaking the EMU record of 9:55.26, whicih was set by Lynn Stoltzfus in 1994. His time is the sixth fastest in the ODAC this season and one of only six marks to crack the 10-minute mark.
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Amanda Theall, Shenandoah, Junior, Throws
April 09, 2012Theall, a junior from Blossville, N.Y., put together a solid showing at the Goucher Invitational in each of the weighted throws. In the shot put, she set a school record with a toss of 12.17 meters (39' 11.25") to place second overall and first among NCAA Division III competitors. It also established a new ODAC season-best mark for the event. In the discus, Theall was fourth overall and second among D-III athletes with a throw of 36.43 meters (119' 6"). Theall set her second school record of the day in the weight throw as her heave of 44.70 meters (133' 9") placed fifth overall and third among D-III competitors.
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Tim Smith, Roanoke, Senior, Distance
April 09, 2012Smith, a senior from Roanoke, Va., put his ODAC champion cross country skills to work for a big day at the Duke Invitational over the weekend. In the 10,000-meter run, Smith crossed the finish line first overall in a time of 30:55.43, besting runners from all NCAA divisions. Smith's time set a new school record, ranks 20th in NCAA Division III this season, and set a new ODAC season-best time.
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Christina Washington, Lynchburg, Senior, Sprints/Mid-Distance
April 02, 2012Washington, a senior from Silver Spring, Md., ran in three events at the Commonwealth Duals. She finished fourth in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:29.92. Washington was a member of the 4x100-meter relay team that won the event in a time 50.72. However, her best mark came in the 400-meter race. Washington won the event in a time of 58.18, which set a new ODAC seasonal top time and ranks 13th in the country.
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Zander Tallman, Washington and Lee, Sophomore, Sprints
April 02, 2012Tallman, a sophomore from Grand Blanc, Mich., competed in and won four events at the Commonwealth Games hosted by Christopher Newport on Saturday. He won the 200-meter dash in a school-record time of 21.53, and then followed that with a victory in the 400-meter dash in 48.86. Tallman was also a member of the winning 4x400-meter relay team (3:23.25) and the winning 4x100-meter relay team (42.95). He is currently ranked first in the country in the 400-dash (47.66), and this weekend's time moved him into fifth in the country in the 200-dash.
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Jill Katterhagen, Washington and Lee, Freshman, Pole Vault
March 27, 2012Katterhagen, a freshman from The Woodlands, Texas, finished first among NCAA Division III athletes and sixth overall in the pole vault with a school-record height of 3.60 meters (11’9.75”), a mark that puts her fifth in the country. She was also a member of the 4x400-meter relay team that took second among Div. III teams with a school-record time of 4:06.46, besting the old mark of 4:07.99.
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Johnathan Smith, Guilford, Sophomore, Sprints
March 27, 2012Smith, a sophomore from Conyers, Ga., picks up his second straight weekly award after setting a pair of ODAC sprint records over the weekend. Smith won the 100-meter dash and placed second in the 200-meter dash at the VertKlasse Meet, setting school and ODAC records in both events. His times are also the fastest in NCAA Division III this season. Smith defeated 15 sprinters, mostly from higher NCAA divisions, to win the 100-dash in 10.51, which broke his own school and ODAC standards set last week. His time of 21.10 seconds in the 200-dash placed second overall, but tops among NCAA Division III competitors in the 19-man field. Smith also anchored the Quakers’ 4x100-meter relay team that set the school mark with a sixth-place time of 44.39 seconds.
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Janey Fugate, Washington and Lee, Freshman, Hurdles
March 19, 2012Fugate, a freshman from Atlanta, Ga., finished first overall in 400-meter hurdles and set a new school record with a time of 1:04.24, eclipsing the old mark of 1:04.45. The time is the top mark in the ODAC in the early season. Fugate also ran on the 4x100-meter relay team that took fourth overall and first among NCAA Division III competition with a time of 51.55.
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Johnathan Smith, Guilford, Sophomore, Sprints
March 19, 2012Smith, a sophomore from Conyers, Ga., continued right where he left off his All-American indoor campaign as he won the 200-meter dash and placed sixth in the 100-meter dash at the Wake Forest Open. He set school records in both events and established the fastest times in both events in NCAA Division III in the early outdoor season. Smith defeated 112 sprinters, mostly from higher NCAA divisions, to win the 200-dash in 21.26, which broke his own standard set a year ago. He eclipsed the ODAC and school records in the 100-dash, posting a mark of 10.53 seconds in the preliminaries (Melvin Queen, BC, 10.58 in 2008), which was the day’s second-fastest time. He finished sixth in the finals (10.68), tops among Division III contestants as he was the lone D-III runner in a filed of 63.
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Amanda Theall, Shenandoah, Junior, Throws
March 05, 2012Theall, a junior from Blossvale, N.Y., set one and nearly set two school records at the Salisbury Opener over the weekend. Shenandoah's lead thrower won the shot put with a school-record toss of 11.28 meters (37' 0.00"). She also won the discus with a fling of 34.90 meters (114' 6.00"). Theall almost put her name on the Hornets' hammer throw record as she placed second in the event with a heave of 36.33 meters (119' 2.25").
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Kirk Lewis, Shenandoah, Senior, Sprints/Javelin
March 05, 2012Lewis, a senior from Fairfax, Va., had a big and busy day at the season-opening Salisbury Opener over the weekend. Lewis finished in the top three in four individual events and helped his Hornets' teammates to victory in the 4x400-meter relay (3:28.32). Individually, he placed second in the 400-meter dash (51.24) and came in third in the 100-meter (11.55) and 200-meter (23.39) dashes as well as the javelin (149' 11.25").
