JOHN KNIGHT TWILIGHT: Kongela and Leighty Improve NCAA Times at Willamette

John Knight Twilight Results

SALEM, Ore. – Improving upon the NCAA Division III provisional marks which they already had, Dakari Kongela in the men’s 100 meter dash and Melissa Leighty in the women’s 100 meter hurdles posted first-place finishes in the John Knight Twilight meet, a last-minute addition to the George Fox University track and field schedule, Tuesday evening here at Willamette University’s Charles Bowles Track.

Kongela improved his 100 mark from 10.78 to 10.71, which boosted him from 28th to 11th nationally.  Leighty’s 14.74 in the 100 hurdles moved her into 18th place nationally, up from 24th with her previous time of 14.89.

Cindy Walsh also improved her mark in the women’s long jump from 18-0.25 to 18-6 / 5.64m, which would have moved her from 29th nationally to 16th.  Unfortunately, it was a wind-aided mark with a 4.3 wind gust reading, which nullified the mark for NCAA purposes.

“It was just a bad break for Cindy with the wind at that particular moment,” said Bruins coach John Smith.  “The good thing is that she is making jumps like that consistently right now; it’s not like it was a ‘once in a lifetime’ jump that she can’t do again.  She’ll get a chance to raise her mark this weekend at the Oregon Twilight and next week at Willamette’s Last Chance meet.”

Emily Hodgin and Marlee Zakrevsky also won women’s events for the Bruins, Hodgin with a distance of 34-7.5 / 10.55m in the triple jump and Zakrevsky with a throw of 142-8 / 43.48m in the hammer.  Thirds went to Casey Taylor in the men’s 100 (11.40) and Hana Fisher in the women’s hammer (129-4 / 39.43m). 

The Bruins will next compete in the Oregon Twilight in Eugene, Ore., this Saturday, with the first events starting at 5:30 p.m.

Results of the John Knight Twilight, courtesy of the Willamette sports information office, are available on the George Fox track web site at http://www.georgefox.edu/athletics/track/2009/results1.html.

George Fox 2009 NCAA Division III Qualifiers

Men

Joel Krebs - Javelin (6th, 203-7 / 62.6m)

Dakari Kongela - 100 (11th, 10.71)

Ryan Forbes - Decathlon (13th, 6,365 pts)

David Dillow - Decathlon (20th, 6,237 pts)

Nate Dillow - Decathlon (26th, 6,161 pts)

Women

Beth Stam - Javelin (7th, 142-0 / 43.28m), Heptathlon (25th, 4,139 pts)

Irene Johnson - 100 Hurdles (9th, 14.47 - new school record)

Melissa Leighty - Heptathlon (16th, 4,364 pts), 100 Hurdles (18th, 14.74)

Cindy Walsh - Long Jump (33rd, 18-0.25 /5.49m)