3 track athletes qualify for nationals in weekend road meet in Arkansas

Three Hoosier track-and-field stars must have decided the weather in March will be better in Arkansas than in Bloomington. \nThe three booked return trips this weekend for the NCAA Indoor Championships.\nSeniors Kiwan Lawson, Stacey Clausing and Lindsay Hattendorf all provisionally qualified for nationals in March.\nFayetteville, Ark., played host to the three qualifiers and the rest of the men's and women's track-and-field athletes who competed in the Tyson Invitational this weekend.\nIn the men's long jump, Lawson leapt a distance of 7.75 meters, which ties a personal best that is currently fifth best all-time at IU.\nLawson's teammates, junior Kyle Jenkins and sophomore Jeff Coover, could potentially be traveling back to Arkansas, as they provisionally qualified earlier in the year.\nCoover also tied his personal best and provisional qualifying mark of 5.20 meters in the pole vault this weekend.\n"It is encouraging to have several good performances here, since this is the site of NCAAs," men's track-and-field interim head coach Wayne Pate said in a statement. "Kiwan and Jeff both had great marks, and this is the time that we want our athletes to start peaking."\nClausing also qualified in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.90 seconds. She could be competing in two events at nationals since she qualified in the 400-meter dash last weekend.\nHattendorf qualified for nationals in the 5,000-meter run this weekend with a time of 16:39.95. Hattendorf qualified last weekend in the 3,000-meter run at the Indiana Relays in Bloomington.\nThe recent qualifications bring the total number of Hoosiers who could attend nationals to six.\nSophomore Wendi Robinson posted a personal best in the mile, clocking in at 4:53.20. That time was strong enough to place her fifth. \n"Wendi really showed a step in the right direction tonight," women's interim coach Judy Wilson said in a statement. "She ran faster in the second half than she did in the first, and I'm excited because she ran the race that I wanted her to run. I don't think she has showed us everything she has yet."\nFreshman Faith Sherrill threw for a personal best in the shot put with a distance of 14.07 meters. Sherrill now holds the longest throws on the women's squad for both the shot put and the weight throw (16.09 meters).\nJunior long jumper Devin Moore and junior sprinter Doug Dayhoff from the men's team posted personal bests in their respective events as well. Moore jumped a distance of 6.93 meters, finishing 11th behind Jenkins, who came in eighth, and junior Tyler Skelton, who finished in ninth.\nIU will host the Hoosier Hills invite this weekend, and then it's the Big Ten championships Feb. 24, hosted by IU on the men's side and by Illinois on the women's side.