CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW: NCAA Division II Indoor

PITTSBURG, Kansas – Think the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships and the USATF Indoor Championships are the only track & field meets worth keeping an eye on this weekend?

Think again.

While the attention of the track & field world might be split between Birmingham, Alabama, and Portland, Oregon, this weekend, the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas, are quietly shaping up to be an excellent meet.

With numerous athletes who would hold their own – and then some – at the DI or even the USATF Championships, and exciting match-ups that will determine the course of a deep national team title race, there’s plenty to follow from America’s heartland.

We covered the team races quite extensively a couple days ago, so have a look at that. Here are a few athletes and/or events to watch out for and to watch live on NCAA.com.

Jeron Robinson, Texas A&M-Kingsville

Fans of world-class high jumping might already be familiar with Robinson, the NCAA DII outdoor record holder and the No. 2 all-time DII high jumper indoors. After all, his rivals on All-Athletics.com are listed as: Jesse Williams, James Lundy, Bradley Adkins, JaCorian Duffield and Nick Ross.

He finished fourth at the USATF Outdoor Championships a year ago, just missing a berth to the IAAF World Championships, and also took fourth at the Pan American Games in Toronto.

This year, he’s not only the top seed in NCAA DII, but he’s tied for the collegiate lead at 2.29m (7-6) with DI favorite Bradley Adkins of Texas Tech. When the dust settles from championships action this weekend, it may very well be that Robinson emerges with the top jump out of all collegians.

Though he’s the three-time defending outdoor DII champion, he hasn’t won the indoor crown since 2013, finishing third and second the past two seasons.

Robinson jumps Saturday at 3:15pm ET/2:15pm CT.

Salcia Slack, New Mexico Highlands

No one anywhere in the country will have a busier weekend than Slack, the do-it-all pentathlete extraordinaire from New Mexico Highlands. Competing in her final collegiate meet, the defending pentathlon champion will also compete in the 60-meter hurdles (No. 4 seed), the long jump (No. 3) and the triple jump (No. 1).

This isn’t the first time she’s tried this. She won the pentathlon a year ago, and finished runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles in a career-best 8.37 and third in the triple jump. She only mustered a 12th-place finish in the long jump, however.

Her No. 3 Cowgirls squad will sink or swim based on how she performs in these events, and these events will also play a significant role in the team race.

In the triple jump, she’ll square off with No. 2 Diana Cauldwell and No. 9 Jonelle Campbell of top-ranked Lincoln (Mo.), the tied-at-No. 4 duo of Amber Cook and Cierra Pulliam from No. 6 Lewis, and No. 3 Amira Jenkins of second-ranked host Pittsburg State.

The 60-meter hurdles pit Slack against defending national champion No. 1 Ladonna Richards and No. 3 Chrisdale McCarthy of Lincoln, No. 5 Beatriz Indurain of fifth-ranked Grand Valley State, No. 6 Courtney Nelson of Pittsburg State and No. 8 Kenrisha Brathwaite of No. 7 Johnson C. Smith.

Slack competes in the pentathlon Saturday starting at 10am ET/9am CT, in the long jump on Friday at 3:05pm ET/2:05pm CT, the 60-meter hurdles prelims Friday at 4:25pm ET/3:25pm CT and final Saturday at 5:30pm ET/4:30pm CT, and the triple jump Saturday at 6:10pm ET/5:10pm CT.

Lamar Hargrove, Tiffin

For the third year in a row, Hargrove is going for a sweep of the 60-meter and 200-meter national titles. When he did it the first time two years ago as an unknown freshman in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he had already made history: since Division II introduced the 200 as a Championship event in 2005, no man had swept both it and the 60 in the same meet. Then he was the first to do it two years in a row, and he’s looking to make it three straight.

He’s got the times to back up the titles, too. He’d compete well in either Birmingham or Portland this weekend, with his 6.62 at 60 meters ranking him tied for ninth among all collegians this year, and he dipped below 21 seconds twice a year ago at 200 meters.

He’ll need those titles to keep his No. 2 Tiffin Dragons in the title hunt. He’ll have to prevent another youngster in No. 6 Academy of Art’s Mobolade Ajomale from doing what he, himself, did two years ago; the Urban Knight is No. 2 in both events. Plus, there are six other athletes from national title-contending teams in the field at 200 meters, including No. 3 Daniel Jamieson and No. 6 Burkheart Ellis, Jr., of fourth-ranked Saint Augustine’s and No. 8 Kenneth Jackson of fifth-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Plus, at 60 meters he squares off with not only Ajomale but also No. 3 Jurgen Themen of defending national champion No. 1 Adams State, and the No. 4 duo of Jamieson and Tiffin teammate Reginald Thomas.

Prelims for the 60 meters and 200 meters are Friday at 4:40pm ET/3:40pm CT and 7pm ET/6pm CT, respectively. The finals for the 60 and 200 will be contested Saturday 5:40pm ET/4:40pm CT and 7pm ET/6pm CT, respectively.

Kaitlyn Long, Winona State

Perhaps no other athlete at these Championships is in better position to take on the DI stars and the pros at USATF than Long. Not only is long the defending national champion and DII leader in the weight throw with an all-time DII record 22.25m (73-0) throw, she’s also the overall collegiate leader by five inches over DI favorite Kelsey Card of Wisconsin. Less than a month ago, Long handed Card a decisive defeat, throwing 21.69m (71-2) to beat the Badger by two-and-a-half feet – on Card’s home turf at the Wisconsin Open, no less.

She now turns her attention to the best-of-the-best in DII. She leads last year’s runner-up and outdoor hammer throw champion Heavin Warner of Central Missouri by more than two feet, but Warner has been steadily improving throughout the year. The same weekend Long threw 21.69m at Wisconsin, Warner heaved the weight a career-best 21.55m (70-8½) on her home turf.

Long competes in the weight throw Friday at 5:50pm ET/4:50pm CT.