Track & Field | 5/23/2014 7:10:00 PM
ALLENDALE, Mich. – The 2014 NCAA Div. II Outdoor Track and Field National Championships will serve as an excellent learning experience for Western Oregon University student-athlete
Josh Hanna.
The sophomore entered the men's 800 meters seeded ninth, but finished 18th Friday. His time of 1:54.62 was well off of his seed time of 1:50.45. Texas A&M-Commerce's Luis Romero ran the fastest preliminary time at 1:50.42. Aduo Omot of Augustana (S.D.) claimed the last spot in Saturday's final with a time of 1:51.57.
"Well, I definitely learned a couple of lessons today," Hanna said. "I've learned the different ways people warm up and such. But, it was honor to be in the race. It's always an honor to race against athletes of this caliber. It was a great experience and a great opportunity to represent the school. I'm glad I have two more opportunities to make it to outdoor nationals."
Hanna remained with the pack of runners through the first 500 meters, before Omot and the rest of the first heat front pack began pulling away. Hanna finished sixth out of six runners in his heat, which qualified three runners into the finals. The Quincy, Calif. native, was seeded third in his heat.
"I've exceeded my expectations this season everywhere except this race," Hanna said. "So, that's exciting for me. I think our team has done really well and I'm anxious to see what we can accomplish next year."
Hanna posted the ninth-fastest 800-meter time in NCAA Div. II this year, crossing the line at 1:50.45 at the OSU High Performance meet on May 2. The time is second on the WOU all-time list. It was also the best time in the GNAC this year, and second all-time in conference history.
"For Brady (Beagley) and Josh, we're really just disappointed, not in them, but the fact that they weren't better prepared. Both came into their races a little bit ill. When you're like that, you really need to be able to get good sleep and good rest; and I don't we've done a real good job in our scheduling of getting prepared for this meet. So, they've all learned from that and will come back better prepared."
Western Oregon caps the national championships and its season with a trio of student-athletes in the javelin Saturday.
Justin Larson is in the first flight of the men's javelin at 11 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by
Shane Brooks in the second flight.
Seabre Church ends her stellar WOU career in the first flight of the women's javelin at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Live video and results will be available on WOUWolves.com. Live updates and photos from Allendale will also be available on all of the WOUWolves social media accounts.
"We go into tomorrow with three javelin throwers with good work behind them," Johnson said. "We're hoping for a good day. The competition here is better than it's ever been. But, had we run our marks coming in, we would all be moving forward easily. All you have to do when you get here is do what you've already done and you'll be successful."
| Place | Athlete | Time | | | | | | Ht(Pl) |
|---|
| 1 | Luis Romero
SO - TAMU-Commerce | 1:50.42 | Q | | | | | 3(1) |
| 2 | Patrick Weaver
FR - Colorado Mines | 1:50.50 | Q | | | | | 1(1) |
| 3 | Dillon Webster
JR - Findlay | 1:50.75 | Q | | | | | 1(2) |
| 4 | Ethan Barnes
SO - Grand Valley St. | 1:50.87 | Q | | | | | 2(1) |
| 5 | Robin Butler
SO - Western State | 1:50.88 | Q | | | | | 2(2) |
| 6 | Jeremy Wilk
SR - Grand Valley St. | 1:50.93 | q | | | | | 2(3) |
| 7 | Michal Idziak
SO - TAMU-Kingsville | 1:51.30 | q | | | | | 2(4) |
| 8 | Drew Windle
JR - Ashland | 1:51.36 | Q | | | | | 3(2) |
| 9 | Aduo Omot
SR - Augustana (S.D.) | 1:51.57 | q | | | | | 1(3) |
| 10 | Jermaine Blake
SR - Lincoln (Mo.) | 1:51.60 | | | | | | 3(3) |
| 11 | Shane Niksic
JR - Colorado Mesa | 1:51.73 | | | | | | 2(5) |
| 12 | Matt Jemilo
SO - Lewis | 1:51.76 | | | | | | 3(4) |
| 13 | Paul Pape
SR - Nebraska-Kearney | 1:52.25 | | | | | | 3(5) |
| 14 | Kellin Loch
SO - Central Missouri | 1:52.40 | | | | | | 1(4) |
| 15 | Garrett Hoch
SO - Colorado Mines | 1:53.05 | | | | | | 1(5) |
| 16 | Carson Aberle
JR - UC-Colo. Spgs. | 1:54.31 | | | | | | 3(6) |
| 17 | Abraham Alvarado
FR - Cal St. Stanislaus | 1:54.55 | | | | | | 3(7) |
| 18 | Josh Hanna
SO - Western Oregon | 1:54.62 | | | | | | 1(6) |
| 19 | Dage Minors
FR - Franklin Pierce | 1:54.75 | | | | | | 2(6) |
| 20 | Andres Gonzalez Guzman
FR - P.R.-Rio Piedras | 1:55.69 | | | | | | 2(7) |
