Kearney, Neb. – Senior Brayden Sorensen and freshman Nolan Studley earned All-American honors in the high jump and senior Wes Ferguson qualified for the 800-meter finals Saturday at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in Emporia, Kan.
The three-day meet, hosted by MIAA member Emporia State, began Thursday morning and runs until Saturday night. A top eight finish in any individual event is good for first-team All-American honors with places nine through 9-12 garnering second-team accolades.
In the late afternoon, Studley (Hastings) and Sorensen (Kearney) finished 10th and tied for 11th, respectively. Studley cleared 6-9.75 with Sorensen going 6-8. Both cleared the opening bar of 6-8 on their first attempts with Studley getting past the next height on his third attempt. He then missed at 6-11.75.
Grand Valley (Mich.) State junior Jaivon Harrison won the national title (7-3.25) with Sorensen sharing 11th place with Washburn freshman Matthew Heckman and Oklahoma Baptist sophomore Try Bartholomew. The MIAA ended up with sixth All-Americans in this event.
Sorensen finishes his UNK career with six D2 AA honors, the third most in program history behind Ferguson (nine) and current throws coach Dane Tobey (eight).
Ferguson (Fremont) surpassed Tobey’s record thanks to qualifying for the 800-meter finals Saturday at 3:45 p.m. Central. Aiming for his third straight outdoor national title, Ferguson led most of the second heat and won in a time of 1:50.38. Central Washington junior Johan Correa won the third heat (1:49.63) to have the fastest prelim time.
On Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Central, UNK will have three compete in the men’s javelin (Rylan Basart, Kenyon Forest and Wyatt Hammond), two in the women’s high jump (Sydney Davis and Brianna Russell) at 1:45 p.m. Central and also Creighton junior Alex Homan in the men’s pole vault (12:30 p.m.).
Loper track has good day at national meet
