FHSU Athletics
The Fort Hays State men's and women's track and field teams hit 10 national qualifying marks, broke one school record, tied another record and won four events at a pair of meets this week (April 9-10). The Tiger men notched six national qualifying performances while the women added two at the Jo Meaker Classic and Multis in Canyon, Texas, with a pair of throwers from the women's team surpassing the national qualifying threshold at the Grizzly Gold Invite in El Dorado, Kan.
Dean Clark broke the school record in the long jump at West Texas A&M with a top clearance of 24-11.25 on his fourth attempt, helping the junior finish fourth on the day and rank fifth in Division II this season. He broke the former school record by two inches.
Emma Slade matched her discus school record of 162-9 set earlier in the season at Butler County CC, placing first in the event.
Teammate Natalee North also topped the national qualifying mark with a heave of 149-10 to finish second.
Drew Tolar had a big week in Texas, becoming just the second Tiger in DII history to surpass 7,000 points in the decathlon. The sophomore currently ranks second in Division II with his point total of 7,096 points across the 10 events. He earned 800-plus points three times and added 798 points in a fourth event. His top events were the 100m dash (10.61, 949 points), the long jump (24-0.75, 893 points), the 400m dash (49.92 - 818 points) and the 110m hurdles (15.43, 798 points).
Jayden Michaelis won the 400m hurdles in Texas with a national qualifying time of 52.31, 11th-best in Division II this season and second-best at FHSU during the DII era. The time is less than a half second off the school record set in 2002 (51.92, Cody Carter).
Annabeth Baalmann won the pole vault competition in Texas with a top clearance of 13-1.75, moving her to ninth on the DII performance chart this season.
Reba Mader ran the 400m hurdles in Texas in 1:00.99, finishing in third place on the day and etching herself in 22nd place on the NCAA national qualifying list.
Hunter Angove cleared a height of 16-11 in the pole vault at the Jo Meaker, good for 11th in DII this season, third on the day and fourth on the FHSU DII era performance chart.
Josiah Ball also cleared the national qualifying height in the same event, placing fourth with a height of 16-5.25.
Avrey Albright ran the 400m in 47.24 at West Texas A&M, surpassing the national qualifying mark and finishing sixth in the event.
Ashlyn Harbaugh won the 10,000m at the Grizzly Gold Invite with a time of 36:56.13, fourth-best at FHSU during the DII era.
Esther Clark-Pavlovich placed third in the 3,000m steeplechase in El Dorado with a time of 11:10.06, the second-fastest time on the FHSU DII era performance chart.
The Tigers will wrap up the weekend Saturday (April 11) when 10 throwers compete in 12 entries at the Grizzly Gold Invite