June 23, 2005

Results

CARSON, Calif. - Competition just got underway at the USATF Junior National and USATF National Championships in Carson, Calif., early Thursday morning. Early news for the Tigers as freshman Nate Englin placed second in the men's junior shot put to earn a spot on the American team that will later travel to the Pan-American Games. In addition, Derrick Peterson and Timothy Dunne made tomorrow's semifinal in the 800-meter run.

Englin (Shoreview, Minn.), a freshman, finished second in the men's junior shot put early in the morning with a throw of 61-7 (18.77m) to become the first Tiger to earn a spot on Team USA traveling to the Pan-America Junior Games to be held July 28-31, in Sherbrooke, Canada. Englin, having to throw the six-kilogram (13.3 lb) shot in the completion, improved seven feet on his best throw from the 2004 Junior Championships.

The event itself was intense as Englin entered the finals in second place with his best throw in trials of 60-4 (18.39m), only trailing Florida State's Beau Burroughs. In the fifth round, Englin quickly found himself in fourth as high-schooler Ryan Whiting and Concordia Irvine's Paul Castaneda threw 64-9¼ and 61-2, respectively, to effectively put Englin out of the top two qualifying positions for the Pan-Am Games.

"I definitely took notice to what those guys threw," said Englin. "I knew I had to pull it off to go to Pan-Am's and was happy to do it."

Englin followed with his meet-best of 61-7, moving to second, topping Burroughs by an inch and three-quarters.

"I think what I've experienced with both the Big 12 Championships and the NCAA Regional prepared me for these higher-intensity situations," Englin continued. "You get used to the type of competition that you have to deal with on a day-to-day basis and that definitely helped me here."

Also in the morning freshman Denise Gilmore (Manhattan, Kan.) placed seventh in the women's junior hammer throw, recording a throw of 164-11 (50.28m). Gilmore accomplished a successful year, considering she had not been a high school track-and-field athlete. Gilmore instead was an all-state softball player and had not picked up a shot put, let alone a hammer since age 14.

Later in the day, freshman Trisa Nickoley (Tecumseh, Kan.) advance to tomorrow's final in the women's junior 800-meter run with a run of 2:10.87, grabbing the last qualifying spot. Nickoley and the rest of the field had to battle 20 mile-per-hour cross winds that progressively strengthened throughout the day.

Also battling the winds, post-collegians Timothy Dunne (Jerome, Idaho) and Derrick Peterson (Atlanta, Ga.) advanced to tomorrow's semifinal in the open 800-meter run. Peterson won his heat in 1:50.46, actually paced by Tiger sophomore Marcus Mayes who led the first lap. Dunne placed fourth in his heat, clocking 1:49.61 in his heat, the fastest heat of the four. Mayes would run a 1:51.64 and junior Neville Miller (St. Louis, Mo.) ran a 1:51.28, both will not advance to the semi.

Ashley Patten's first round in the open women's 800 was cancelled due to limited entries; she will run in tomorrow's first round at 9:20 p.m., central.