By Karl Streipe

Maroon Sports Contributor

As the sole NCAA Division I meet on the schedule for the Chicago track & field team, the Butler Twilight Invitational is treated more as an opportunity to meet NCAA Division III standards against better competition, and hardly ever as an opportunity to place well or even earn a victory. However, third-years Val Anderson and Adeoye Mabogunje were able to do both.

Anderson registered a Division III provisional-qualifying standard in the women’s hammer throw competition with a distance of 48.41 meters, which was good enough to place fourth in a pool of athletes from Division I schools. She also broke her own school record.

With her throw at Butler, Anderson now stands nineteenth in the country–not yet good enough to guarantee her a place at the national meet, but with two “last-chance” meets remaining, she has ample opportunity to eventually earn an automatic invitation with a throw of 51.5 meters or better.

Also in the women’s hammer throw, fourth-year Meghan Cosgriff-Hernandez placed fourteenth with a throw of 40.74 meters.

Mabogunje recorded a provisional-qualifying distance in the triple jump and also broke his own school record with a leap of 14.57 meters. He ended in third place, although he held the longest jump in the qualifying rounds. Now standing seventh in the country in the triple jump, Mabogunje is all but guaranteed a place in the national meet.

“It was good to see Val Anderson and Adeoye Mabogunje both break their own school records in the hammer and triple jump,” said Coach Hall of their performances. “They are showing a lot of consistency in those events right now and moving up on the NCAA honor rolls. Val will need to continue to improve upon her standing to get into the NCAAs, but she has been getting better every week.”

Third-year Patrick Sullivan also raced well once again, here racing the 800 meters. Sullivan, who currently stands sixth in Division III in the 1500 meters, just missed the provisional-qualifying standard in the half-mile (1:53.10), running 1:53.98 to place eighth.

And following Mabogunje’s lead in the jumps, fourth-year Cristina Metildi placed thirteenth in the triple jump with a distance of 10.21 meters and placed twenty-second in the long jump with 4.79 meters. Also, second-year Seyi Oyenuga placed eighteenth in the men’s long jump with a leap of 6.37 meters.

In the sprinting events, fourth-year Jelena Pantel made her debut in the 100-meter dash, placing seventeenth with a time of 12.83. Second-year Brandon Halcott raced well in both the 100-meter dash (11.71) and the 200-meter dash (23.36).

And in the distance events, both fourth-year Clarisse Mesa and third-year Darcy Flora ran the women’s 1500 meters, Mesa placing twenty-second in 4:52.04 and Flora behind her in 5:11.94.

Both the men’s and the women’s teams have two more meets before the NCAA Division III National meet in Canton, NY. Known as the “last-chance” meets to those still trying to qualify for the national meet, the Dr. Keeler Invitational and the North Central Invitational will take place this and next Friday evenings, respectively, at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.