The Lindenwood men's and women's track and field teams captured All-American honors in seven events at the 2010 NAIA Indoor National Championships this past weekend in Johnson City, Tenn. The women's team finished sixth in the team standings, and the men were 16th.
The women's team scored a total of 37 points, three points shy of finishing in the top five. The men finished with a total of 14 points.
Jessica Ching and Cecilia Mboua won individual national championships to capture All-American honors for the Lady Lions. Others to garner All-American honors were Michael Aitken and David Lindemann in the men's 3000 meter racewalk, the men's 4x800 meter relay team , Bruno Boccalotta in the men's weight throw, Joshua Schmidt in the men's 800 meter run, and Francine Simpson in the women's 60 meter dash.
Day Three Recap
Much like day two, the Lady Lions got off to a roaring start when Cecilia Mboua won the women's triple jump with a distance of 12.57m, a new personal best this year. Shortly after, Francine Simpson finished third in the women's 60 meter dash to add to the Lady Lions' total.
Francine Nzilampa narrowly missed out on All-American honors, finishing seventh in the women’s 1000 meter run.
On the men's side, Joshua Schmidt had the best performance of the day, placing third in the men's 800 meter run.
In other results, Mustapha Habbani was seventh in the mile run, Jim Freeman was ninth in the shot put, and Ryan Brinker finished eighth in the pole vault competition.
Day Two Recap
The women's team started day two off with a bang, as Jessica Ching captured the 3000 meter racewalk national championship with a time of 14:25.38. Ching shattered her own school record by 31 seconds and has improved her own personal time by two minutes in the last year.
Francine Simpson advanced to the final of the women's 60 meter dash after posting the third fastest time in the semifinals. Francine Nzilampa finished fourth in the 1000 meter preliminaries and will advance to the finals.
In the women's 600 meter run, Nzilampa finished 11th in the preliminaries, Rachel Hemphill was 14th, and Jan Bennett finished 22.
On the men's side, Michael Aitken and David Lindemann finished fifth and sixth respectively in the men's 3000 meter race walk, earning All-American honors. Aitken's time of 13:55.77 set a new school record and Lindemann finished just seconds behind him.
Late Friday, the men's 4x800 meter relay team earned All-American honors finishing fifth overall and Boccalotta was fifth in the weight throw.
Mustapha Habbani advanced to the final of men's mile run after finishing fifth in the preliminaries. Joshua Schmidt will compete for an individual national title after qualifying sixth in the 800 meter run.
Day One Recap
The highlight of day one belonged to the men's 4x800 meter relay team of Noe Hernandez, Nicholas Yegon, Matt Petersen and Joshua Schmidt. That team qualified sixth after preliminaries and will race in the finals on later today at 7:00 p.m.
In other results, the women's 4x400 meter relay team finished 15th in preliminaries, the men's 4x400 meter relay team was 10th, and the men's distance medley team finished 21st.