Two years ago, Andrew Wells-Qu was less than a second away from being an All-American. Two years later, with a 1:54.24 in prelims, Wells-Qu has qualified for the finals in the 800 meter run, thereby earning him the most coveted prize in collegiate track and field: an All American medal.

It appeared initially that Wells-Qu had not qualified for finals. The top two finishers in each of the two heats, as well as the next four fastest times, qualify for the finals. Wells-Qu placed fifth in his heat after being boxed in a majority of the race, and it appeared to onlookers at home that Wells-Qu’s run at an All-American medal run was over. However, results later showed that Wells-Qu’s heat was significantly faster, and Wells-Qu had run a fast enough time to qualify to finals. In fact, Wells-Qu’s time would have put him in a tie for first in the other heat. Wells-Qu will race the finals of the 800 meter tomorrow evening at 5:30.

Fourth year Kristin Constantine failed to make finals in the weight throw after finishing third last year. Her throw of 16.14 meters fell short of 16.88 meter throw that it took to qualify for finals. The winner was Holly Ozanich of Wisconsin Oshkosh, who threw 20.62 meters, bettering country leading throw that she had thrown coming into the national meet. Fourth year Brian Andreycak also failed to qualify for finals, finishing fifth in his heat with a time of 7.70 seconds. Andreycak now shifts to the 110 meter high hurdles outdoors, which is his much better event. Andreycak beats people with his superior hurdling ability, not with his starting speed, and indoors is his weaker season as a result. That Andreycak was able to qualify for indoor nationals is a bright show of things to come. Liz Lawton, seeded second going into the women’s 5000 meter run, will compete tomorrow at 6:40 pm. Lawton, last year’s national champion at both 5,000 and 10,000 meters outdoors, is seeded behind only Wendy Pavlus of St. Lawrence University. Pavlus was the national champion in cross country last fall, a race in which Lawton took sixth place. However, Lawton has traditionally fared far better on the track, and will be looking to avenge her cross country loss. The winner of the race will almost certainly also hold the facility record at the end of the day. It currently stands at 18:08.86 second.