NAIA Coverage by RunnerSpace.com

NAIA Cross Country / Track Championships

57th Annual Men's & 28th Annual Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships
May 22-24, 2008
Ralph Korte Stadium
Edwardsville, Ill.
Hosted by St. Louis Sports Commission, Lindenwood University, McKendree University and Missouri Baptist University

Men's Predictions

Men 100m
Favorite: #1 Tyrell Cuffy - King College

Dark Horse: #8 Orion Nicely - McKendree
2nd 10.34 and 3rd 21.27 in 2007

Men 200m
Favorite: #2 Tyrell Cuffy - King College
Won last year with 20.94 over Mike Rodgers who won the us indoor 60 and competed for the us team at world indoors

Dark Horse: #11 Hylton Campbell - Mid America Nazarene

Men 400m
Favorite: #1 Ramon Miller - Dickenson St
Ran 46.33 this season, and finished 3rd last year. Will have to fight off William McCaskill who won last year.

Dark Horse: #14 Greg Torres - Doane

Men 800m
Favorite: #1 Michael Saalfeld - Concordia
Was 5th last year won indoors and only mark sub 150 this year

Dark Horse: #10 Durrell Williams - Oklahoma Baptist

Men 1500m
Favorite: #1 Aron Rono - Azusa Pacific

Dark Horse: #8 Christopher Sinick - Malone
Went 3:49.08 in finals last year for 5th place finish in a deep field.

Men 5000m
Favorite: #1 Aron Rono - Azusa Pacific

Dark Horse: #7 Luka Thor - Concordia (Neb)
Was 6th at NAIA cross nationals in 2005, and finished 6th in last years 10k

Men 10000m
Favorite: #1 Aron Rono - Azusa Pacific
No explanation needed

Dark Horse: #18 Sammy Maiyo - Cornerstone
Finished 5th in the 5k last year and 3rd in the 10k

Men Marathon
Favorite: #2 Chris Heezen - Dakota State
4th last year, and lost to Mejia by 2 tenths of a second. He should be primed for some revenge this year

Men 110m Hurdles
Favorite: #1 Lamar Baskin - Oklahoma Baptist

Dark Horse: #10 David Pichler - Azusa Pacific

Men 400m Hurdles
Favorite: #4 Ross Harlan - Oklahoma Babtist

Dark Horse: #6 Matt Sparks - Azusa Pacific

Men 3000m Steeple
Favorite: #1 Aaron Melhorn - Malone

Dark Horse: #20 Simion Tooh - Mid America Nazarene

Men 4x100m
Favorite: #1 Oklahoma Baptist

Dark Horse: #12 McKendree

Men 4x400m
Favorite: #9 Dickenson State

Dark Horse: #17 St Gregory's
Won last year

Men 4x800m
Favorite: #1 Oklahoma Baptist
Always deep in the mens 800

Dark Horse: #13 Siena Heights

5000m Race Walk
Favorite: #2 Thiago Ferreira - Missouri Valley

Dark Horse: #6 Brad Sinick - Malone

Men High Jump
Favorite: #2 Michael Mason - British Columbia
Won last year and set the NAIA Championship record. Went on to place 8th at the IAAF Indoor World Championships

Dark Horse: #4 Ryan Gass - Morningside
Is only a frosh and was the GPAC Champ indoors this year

Men Pole Vault
Favorite: #8 Zach Burrington - Bethal (Ind)
Was 5th last year and won indoors this year.

Dark Horse: #7 Seth Brown - Oklahoma Babtist

Men Long Jump
Favorite: #1 Eric Tisdol - Cumberlands
Has been jumping well all season. Jumped 7.40m in two meets this season

Dark Horse: #10 Dominic Goodman - Dickinson St
Won indoors and was 2nd outdoors last year

Men Triple Jump
Favorite: #1 Dominic Goodman - Dickinson St
Was 2nd indoors and outdoors last year. Will be tough with Chamov of Lindenwood trying to defend his indoor title

Dark Horse: #8 Julius Williams - McKendree
Was 3rd in this meet last year

Men Shot
Favorite: #1 Paul Castaneda - Concordia (Cal)
Won last year and has jumped almost a full meter higher than anyone else this season

Dark Horse: #7 Ben Michand - Cedarville
Was 3rd indoors this year and 2nd outdoors last year

Men Discus
Favorite: #1 John Bowman - Indiana Wesleyan
Has 1.5 meters on the rest of the field coming in. Was 2nd last year

Dark Horse: #14 Steve Hammond - McKendree

Men Hammer
Favorite: #3 Scott Vancura - Hastings
Won indoors in the weight throw and was 3rd in this meet last year

Dark Horse: #10 Kendall Thomas - Olivet Nazarene
Was 7th in this meet last year

Men Javelin
Favorite: #2 Jeff Buller - Bethal (Kan)
Was last year's champion

Dark Horse: #13 David Daugharthy - Bethal (Kan)
Was 6th last year and will be looking to overtake his teammate Buller

Men Decathlon
Favorite: #1 David Pichler - Azusa Pacific
Was 3rd last year. Starts strong and will hold off Gregory of Doane in the 1500 to get this year's title

Dark Horse: #5 Casey Stevick - Azusa Pacific
Beat favorite Pichler back in February. Was 5th indoors in the heptathlon




Womens Predictions

Women 100m
Favorite: #1 Kimberly Smith - Wayland Baptist
Is 3 tenths ahead of 2nd and won the indoor 60, setting the NAIA meet record.

Dark Horse: #8 Lanece Clarke - McKendree
Has shown potential to compete up front with her 11.82 in the finals last year.

Women 200m
Favorite: #1 Kimberly Smith - Wayland Babtist
Despite only being a freshman, Kimberly has shown great talent and is the favorite for the 100/ 200 double.

Dark Horse: #13 Dominique McDonald - Langston
Ran 24.82 to qualify for last years finals where she finished 2nd.

Women 400m
Favorite: #2 Ruky Abdulai - Simon Fraser
Won last year with 52.40 in the finals.

Women 800m
Favorite: #3 Beth McCubbin - Embry-Riddle
Finished 7th last year in a strong field with a time of 2:12, and won the 1000 indoor in 2:54.

Dark Horse: #7 Kelly Cozmanciuc - Cumberlands

Women 1500m
Favorite: #2 Bethany Carr - Olivet Nazarene
Has consistently been one of the NAIA's top middle distance-distance runners and it will be a good race up front with Jamie Canterbury who is also running the 5000 and likely the 4x800.

Dark Horse: #8 Olivia Johnson - Northwestern (Iowa)

Women 5000m
Favorite: #1 Jamie Canterbury - Azusa Pacific
Will be a good run up front with Alyssa McKraig who dominated the field indoors in the 5000. Despite running so well, McKraig will have already run the 10,000 which will help even out Jamie running multiple events, and its tough to pick against Jamie with how well she has been running this season. Also in the mix will be Jamie's teammate Jackie Kipwambock who won the indoor 3000.

Women 10000m
Favorite: #1 Alyssa McKraig - Indiana Tech
Will be running fresh on Thursday night, it is likely she will be alone crossing the finish line.

Women Marathon
Favorite: #2 Kaitlin Fadden - Houghton

Women 110 Hurdles
Favorite: #1 Shannon Hellman - Black Hills State
Won last year as well as indoors this year in the 60 hurdles.

Dark Horse: #6 Courtney Reed - Cedarville
5th indoors in the 60 and 7th in this event last year behind several graduated seniors.

Women 400m Hurdles
Favorite: #1 Sherene Pinock - Oklahoma Baptist
Set NIAI indoor national record in the 600 by 2 seconds in 1:30 and is over 5 seconds in front of the field on the performance list.

Dark Horse: #8 Optimum Baker - Oklahoma Baptist
Made the finals last year and will be in the mix this year.

Women 3000m Steeple
Favorite: #1 Dallon Williams - Cal State San Marcos
Ran 2 seconds faster this year than last years winner (who set the NAIA meet record). Jen Kempers of Dordt may just have to settle for consecutive runner-up finishes.

Women 4x100m
Favorite: #2 Oklahoma Baptist 2
OBU is always strong in the sprints and they finished 2nd last year by .01 seconds.

Women 4x400m
Favorite: #1 Oklahoma Baptist
They are sitting 3 seconds in front of the field, and they won last year.

Women 4x800m
Favorite: #1 Olivet Nazarene 1
Won last year with OBU the only close contenders.Despite graduating Carmin Green, they should be primed for another win since OBU lost multi-time All Americans Amanda Mayfield and Kyli Bean.

Women 3000m Race Walk
Favorite: #1 Megan Hozzes - British Columbia
47 seconds ahead of the field on the performance list may be too much to be overcome.

Women High Jump
Favorite: #2 Ruky Abdulai - Simon Fraser
Won indoor this year and outdoor last year

Dark Horse: #9 Katie Bartels - Doane
Was 3rd indoor this year and 10th outdoor last year

Women Pole Vault
Favorite: #1 Meagan Bauer - Doane
Current best is .16 meters from the Championship record. Was 6th last year and NH indoors. Will have to hold off last year's champ Kelsey Aide of Dickinson.

Dark Horse: #9 Erin Eitzmann - Concordia (Neb)
Was 3rd indoors and 7th last year outdoors. She is a senior and will be looking to go out on a good note and go out on top.

Women Long Jump
Favorite: #1 Ruky Abdulai - Siimon Fraser
Won in '05 and '06. Ruky is leaps and bounds better than the rest of the field. She also holds the Championship record

Dark Horse: none. Abdulai is all but unbeatable.

Women Triple Jump
Favorite: #1 Sarah Ensslen - Cedarville
Has jumped .2 meters better than anyone else in the field this year. She won last year but will have to out-jump indoor champ Natalie Friesen.

Dark Horse: #8 Ruky Abdulai - Simon Fraser
With talent like hers anything is possible

Women Shot Put
Favorite: #2 Jessica Becker - Bethany (Kan)
Beat #1 Aubrey Baxter indoors but will have to be on her game to do it again.

Dark Horse: #8 Katherine Tripp - Concordia (Ore)
Was 3rd last year as a frosh

Women Discus
Favorite: #1 Annie Hess - Concordia (Ore)
Has thrown 7 meters further than anyone else this season. She was last year by 4 meters. Will have a shot at the Championship record.

Dark Horse: #7 Megan Ilertsen - Azusa Pacific
Was 2nd last year and with the solid throws program of Azusa she will be looking to improve

Women Hammer
Favorite: #1 Aubrey Baxter - Black Hills St
Has thrown 5 meters further then #2 Emily Brown and over 10 meters further than the rest of the field. She will have a VERY good shot at the Championship record. Also won indoor weight throw by 2 feet.

Dark Horse: #5 Megan Ilertsen - Azusa Pacific
Was #5 last year

Women Javelin
Favorite: #1 Elizabeth Gleadle - British Columbia
During the season she threw 3.5 meters further than the current Championship record. She won last year by 4 meters.

Dark Horse: #6 Kelsey Stolz - Oregon Tech
Was #3 last year and will be looking to repeat a top 3 performance

Women Heptathlon
Favorite: #1 Zora Golcevska - Azusa Pacific
Had the lead with 2 events left last year only to finish 2nd. This year has already gone over 5200, which is 300 points higher than last year's point total.

Dark Horse: #5 Adelle Johns - British Columbia
Was 9th last year and is capable of some big marks. This is one to watch.