Butler track qualifies 11 individuals for nationals

The Butler indoor track and field team had 11 individual athletes and two relay teams qualify for nationals this weekend, as well as setting a new school record.

At the Masked Rider Open in Lubbock, Texas, Grizzly freshman Eli Hall-Thompson broke the school record in the men's 200-meter dash on Saturday with a 21.16 mark, setting a new mark by .08 milliseconds. The previous record was held by Willie Hordge and Ivory Williams, who both ran a 21.24 while teammates at Butler during the 2005 season.

Hall-Thompson, along with freshman Lamarion Arnold and sophomores DeAndre Wade and Donavan Ayers, was also part of the men's 4x400-meter relay team which qualified for nationals with a time of 3:17.17, which was sixth-best at the Rider Open. During Friday's portion of the meet, the men's 4x800-meter relay team of sophomore Kennedy Chumba, freshman Shevon Blair, freshman Albert Meier and sophomore Luke Johnston had a third-place finish time of 7:55.17, which also qualified for nationals.

Hall-Thompson was not the only national qualifer in the men's 200 dash, as Arnold (21.79 seconds) and Wade (22.20) both secured a trip to nationals. Arnold also qualified in the 60-meter dash, along with sophomore teammate Edward Simmons.

Other individual qualifiers on the men's team were freshman Emmanuel Mwewa (600-meter run), Blair (800-meter run) and Meier (1 mile run).

Grizzly sophomore Terra Flores also set a personal-best in the women's 5000-meter run with a time of 18:53.64, which qualified her for the national meet.

Butler also had 14 athletes compete in the Johnson County Cavalier Night Relays in Overland Park, Kan., on Friday. Grizzly freshman Jalen Gillie was a national qualifer in the men's 60-meter dash and took first place honors at the meet with a time of 6.90 seconds.

On the women's side, freshman sprinter Ona Giles was a double-winner placing first in the 60-meter dash (7.93 seconds) and 200-meter dash (26.86). Freshman vaulter Rachael Buzanowski won the women's pole vault, clearing 2.89 meters.

The Butler men, ranked 16th in the NJCAA this week, now has qualified 10 individuals in five events (60m, 200m, 600m, 1 mile and 3,000-meter run) and two relay teams (4x400m and 4x800m) for the national indoor meet, which will be held March 6-7 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Next up for the Grizzlies will be the Missouri Southern Lion Open on Friday in Joplin, Mo.