Click Here to see complete results from the first two days of competition.
Things are setting up nicely for the Wayland Baptist women's track team to come home with its second outdoor title and fourth consecutive NAIA Championship Banner. The Pioneer women scored 26 points on day two of the 2009 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships to pull out to a ten point lead over second place Lindenwood, 46-36.
Latanya Nation had a great day, scoring 14 points with a second place finish in the 100-meter hurdles and a third in the triple jump. The sophomore from Jamaica hit two personal records, running 14.23 in the hurdles, missing out on her first individual championship by just .02. Her mark of in the triple jump was 12.10 meters (39-08.50).
"Latanya is just having a phenomenal weekend," said head coach Brian Whitlock from Edwardsville, Ill. "All of the girls are looking great. All we need to do tomorrow is just maintain the pace. We're asking a lot out of Kimberly (Smith) and Purity (Biwott). They just need to hold out. We don't have to win every race, and that takes a lot of the pressure off. All we need are second and third place finishes to win this thing."
Joining Nation with a trip to the podium was Kimberly Smith, who took the 100-meter title for the second straight year. Smith ran away from the competition with an 11.58, breaking the mark she set last year of 11.68, but not anywhere close to her school record of 11.36. Freshman Bianca Grant also scored points in the 100 with a seventh place finish in a time of 12.21.
"The times were a little slow in the sprints, but they were headed into a negative wind. Kimberly got out to a great start. She put away the competition in the first 10 meters of the race."
In semi-final competition on Friday, Purity Biwott advanced to the finals of the 800-meters with a time of 2:12.96, while teammate Caroline Karunde will run in the finals of the 5000 meters after posting a time of 17:53.74.
Both the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relay teams advanced to Saturday's finals with season-best times. Grant, Nation, Smith and Keliesha Ross ran a 45.65 in the sprint relay, the top time of the day and the fourth best in school history. Meanwhile, Biwott, Leandria Lee, Smith and Ross posted a time of 3:47.12 in the 4x4.
Sophomore Caleb McLean also had a big day, putting up a personal best time of 47.46 in the semi-final round of the 400-meters to move on to Saturday's finals. In the day's final event, McLean had a 46.20 split on the anchor leg of the men's 4x400 relay to help propel his teammates Stanley Smith, Mario Scott and Jerry-Lee Davis to the finals in that event.
The other individual qualifier was Kirby Dunn who posted a 1:51.61 in the 800-meters to set up a final showdown on Saturday with Sooner Athletic Conference foes Andre Thomas of Oklahoma Baptist and Silas Kisoric of Oklahoma Christian.
The only disappointment of the day occurred when the men's 4x100 relay team just missed getting past the semi-final round. Lee Prevost, Davis, McLean and Dominic Palmer ran a 41.126, but were beaten out of the eighth and final qualifying spot by .01.
The national championships conclude on Saturday evening with the awards ceremonies at 6:30 p.m.