Aberdeen native Julian Campos of Adams State finishes third in 10000m at NCAA D2 champs...
EMPORIA, Kansas--In the first track final of the day, Aberdeen HS graduate Julian Campos of Adams State University (photo courtesy Adams State Athletics) finished third in the men's 10000 meters at the NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships at Francis G. Welch Stadium on the campus of Emporia State University Thursday evening.
Competing on an overcast day with temperatures in the mid 60s, the final of the men's 10000 started honest, but on the second lap, slowed to a ridiculous 86 seconds before Tobias Ritter of West Texas A&M had enough and threw a 68 second lap to get the field back to their senses.
The field then ran laps of 70-72 seconds, with the leaders going through 5000 in 15:05.
Campos, the top seed in the race, was content to sit in about fifth place at that point, before he slowly worked his way into the top three with six laps to go.
At the 8000 mark, the leaders dropped the pace down to 67-68 seconds, before eventual winner Koby Fraaza of Grand Valley State threw down a final 800 of 2:05.76, capped with a final 400 of 62.41 to take the win in 29:20.62.
Campos finished with a final 800 of 2:09.75 to cross the line third in 29:24.76.
In the two field event finals involving Washington athletes Thursday, Western Washington's Kathryn Chapin finished 13th in the women's hammer with a best of 178-3 (54.35m).
Calvin Gutierrez of Western Washington was 18th with a best throw of 194-6 (59.29m).
ON THE TRACK...
One of the biggest surprises of the meet so far was Central Washington's Elise Hopper, the GNAC champion and conference record holder, not advancing to the finals in the women's 400 meters.
In a race where only the top two were guaranteed a spot in Saturday's finals, Hopper, seeded fourth, was third in the first of three heats, finishing in 53.85.
The third and final heat of the women's 400 saw Western Washington's Bec Bennett, the meet's fifth seed, finish second in 53.14 to get the auto Q. As it turned out, all the time qualifiers for Saturday's final came out of the third heat.
Earlier in the day, Central's 4 x 100 meter relay team of Ashlyn Nielsen, Zoe Gonzales, Elise Hopper, and Layla Fields finished sixth in heat 1, with the top two out of the two heats plus four time qualifiers advancing to Saturday's finals. The Wildcats finished with a time of 46.10.
Emmy Kroontje of Western Washington snagged one of the twelve qualifying spots in the women's 1500m prelim, finishing seventh in the first heat in a time of 4:28.54. She earned the last of the final time qualifier spots.
Western's Maurice Woodring earned an automatic berth into the finals of the men's 400 hurdles Saturday with a second place finish in heat 3, running 51.15. He clipped the final hurdle, but composed himself on the run in to finish a comfortable second.
Central's Josh Boast had the misfortune of being the fastest non automatic time qualifier, as he finished fourth in his heat in 51.65. The final time qualifier came out of this heat, as Phillip Jefferson of Missouri Southern was third in 51.59.
In the men's 400, Western Washington's Lucas Brenek finished fifth in heat 1, running 47.53, while Seattle Pacific's Justin Brooks was seventh in heat 2 in 47.95.
The women's 400 hurdles saw Central Washington's finish fifth in her heat in 60.87.
After day one of the decathlon, Central's Josh Boast sits in 14th place with 3487 points, 499 points off the lead held by Leo Chauchard of Pittsburg State.
Klein's day included a run of 11.36 in the 100, a long jump of 21-10 (6.65m), and a personal best throw of 39-8.5 (12.10m) in the shot put.
He cleared a best of 5-8.75 (1.75m) in the high jump, and ended the day running a season best 50.84 in the 400.
ON TAP FRIDAY...
Klein returns to action in day 2 of the decathlon, starting with the 110 hurdles at 7:30 am Pacific/9:30 am local time, and ends with the 1500 at 3:15 pm Pacific/5:15 local time.
Western's Liam Wall throws in the finals of the men's discus at 11:30 am Pacific.
At 3:45 pm Pacific, Elise Hopper looks to bounce back and try to qualify in the women's 200.
Two hours later, the Western Washington men's 4 x 400 relay will go in their qualifying heat, then at 6:10 pm Pacific, both the Central Washington and Western Washington women close out day two with the qualifying heats of the 4 x 400 relay.
NCAA.com will have a free stream available.
NOTE: The NCAA, GNAC, and the sports information offices of Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, and Central Washington contributed to this report.
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