Donnell Crowned NCCAA Champion; Eagles' Full Championship Results
ROME, Georg. -- A select group of JU athletes traveled to Rome, Georgia last weekend to compete in the NCCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. A champion was crowned and two more school records fell as the Eagles competed at Shorter University.
Jennifer Donnell won the Women's Shot Put in dramatic fashion Saturday, tying event leader and Indoor Champion LaNissa Burns on her fourth throw then besting her on her sixth and final throw. Fueled by frustration over her seventh place showing in Friday's Women's Discus competition, Donnell, a 2016 NAIA Indoor Shot Put qualifier, put together her all-time best series in winning the shot put event. Donnell finished by hitting the NAIA "B" standard and qualified for the NAIA National Outdoor Championships later in May.
In the Men's Pole Vault Dan Becker continued his outstanding freshman campaign setting yet another JU school record clearing 4.45m (14' 7.25") and narrowly missing the NAIA qualifying height of 4.60m (15' 1"). Becker tied for fourth but was awarded fifth place on the basis of misses. Nick Modlin brought home a seventh place finish in the Men's 5,000M run finishing in 16:23.52 and the Men's 4 x 800m relay of Joseph Sipiorski, Jordy Arriaga, Caleb Fletcher, and Daryle Worley once again lowered the JU school record finishing in 10th place with a time of 7:59.22. Also competing for Judson was Jordy Arriaga in the Men's 1500 and Kilee Hoffman in the Women's Javelin.
" We brought ten athletes to this Championship and overall, we are very pleased with how they competed" added head coach Joel Popenfoose. "Jenn was on fire today. She is a tremendous competitor and today she just refused to loose. Becker had a great freshman year but he is just getting started. We expect him to earn a number of All-American awards before he is done. Freshmen throwers Andrew Allen and Kyle Jacobson both competed extremely well for their first Championship event and once again the Men's 4 x 800 relay ran lights out."
The Judson Women scored 12 points and placed 15th out of 25 teams while the JU Men finished 20th out of 24 teams with 6 points.
The final event of the season takes place May 26-28 as Jennifer Donnell competes in the Women's Shot Put at the 2016 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Gulf Shores, AL.
