Flynn Earns Second All-American Award of the Weekend

BEREA, Ohio --- Two of the ODAC's most decorated athletes in conference history ended their careers on high at the 2010 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.  Roanoke College sprinter Robin Yerkes ran her way to three All-America awards on Saturday, the final day of competition.  Lynchburg College distance runner Ricky Flynn added a second All-America honor to the one he earned two days earlier.

Yerkes, from Arnold Maryland, competed in the 200-meter and 400-meter dash finals, as well as the 4x100-meter relay final with teammates Jaleesa Osborne, Carmen Graves and Jazamine Stallings.  The Maroons quartet placed eighth with a time of 47.56 seconds, earning All-America accolades.  Osborne and Yerkes will graduate as four-time All-Americans in the 4x100 relay.

Yerkes had her best showing of the day in the 400-meter dash.  She ran an ODAC seasonal top-time of 55.14 seconds on Friday, and came close to duplicating that effort in the finals.  She finished with a time of 55.25 seconds to place second behind Rachel Boerner from Calvin (54.50; NCAA D-III season's best).

In the 200-meter dash, Yerkes broke her own ODAC record on Friday with a time of 24.21 seconds.  She was even faster in the finals with a time of 24.17 seconds, but her effort came up short of Methodist's Ruby Blackwell (23.80) and Illinois Wesleyan's Amanda LaRocca (24.02).

The addition of three more All-America awards gives Yerkes 12 for her career.  She is a 15-time ODAC champion, and was named the USTFCCCA South/Southeast Region Track Athlete of the Year each of the past two seasons.  Yerkes won the 2009 indoor national championship in the 400-meter run.

Flynn, from Lynchburg, Va., placed fourth in the 10,000-meter run on Friday to earn his sixth All-America prize.  His seventh came in the 5,000-meter run on Saturday.  Flynn ran 14:41.50 to place fifth in the 3.1 mile race.  Aside from being a seven-time All-American, Flynn is a 13-time ODAC champion and a two-time USTFCCCA South/Southeast Region Track Athlete of the Year.  The pinnacle of his career came back in the fall when he won the 2009 NCAA Division III Cross Country national championship...also in the Cleveland, Ohio-area.

In other action from ODAC athletes on Saturday, Eastern Mennonite University sophomore Michael Allen took to the triple jump competition.  He jumped 14.03-meters (46'0.5"), but did not qualify for the finals.

For a look at complete results, visit the championship website at www.bw.edu/athletics/10tracknationals.  You'll also be able to access links to live results from that website, as well as from www.raceberryjam.com.