27. May 2008 10:53
2008 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships Web Site
OSHKOSH, Wis. - It came down to the 4X400-meter race. As the last
entrant into the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships with the
14th-best time in the nation, McMurry's distance relay team needed to
place at least fourth to be able to take home the national title. The
quartet did one better, placed third, and gave McMurry University its
only national championship of any sport in school history as the
McMurry men won the 2008 Outdoor Track & Field Championship.
Behind the legs of junior Hann Ollison, McMurry finished with 35 points
to edge SUNY-Cortland (33 pts.) for national crown. Ollison had placed
second in the long jump Thursday, won the individual national title in
the 400-meter race with the fastest time in the nation Saturday, helped
the 4X100-meter relay team win its second consecutive national title,
and then joined John Mikalik and freshmen Bryce Williamson & Terry
Smith to place third in the 4X400-meter race.
“We made history today!” said head coach Barbara Crousen. “It was the
most emotional feeling in the world. As soon as the mile relay was over
with, hot tears hit my eyes, we had the points figured out, they knew
what they had to do and watching it happen was so amazing.”
Other than Bert Green's eighth place finish in the 100-meter race,
Ollison the Colorado City native, had a hand in 34 of McMurry's 35
points and finished as the meet's high-point athlete. He set J.J.
Keller Field records in the 400-meter race (46.40) and in the
4X100-meter relay (40.47) preliminaries Thursday.
“When I recruited Hann, I knew he was good,” Crousen said. “But he’s
more than exceeded my expectations of what I thought he could be. He’s
the kind of athlete that he does everything you tell him to do. So
watching him grow and gain that confidence over the three years has
been awesome, and the strength he had this year was just fun to watch.
I’m glad to have him and even more glad to have him another year.”
Based upon entrants, McMurry was favored to win the men’s national
title and would look to ride the sprint relay team as momentum from the
title in 2007. The same four runners who took home the gold a year ago
at J.J. Keller Field did it again Saturday but this time with much more
at stake. Senior Chris Kelley joined Mikalik, Green and Ollison for the
tandem’s second-straight relay title with a time of 40.57 seconds.
Green narrowly made the finals in the 100-meter race with the
ninth-best time, however, the senior was able to jump to eighth place
in the finals with a time of 10.97 seconds to earn all-America status
and provide a valuable point to the team score.
Ollison’s 46.50 second-time in the 400-meter race earlier in the season
was the best in Division III in 2008 coming into the weekend’s national
meet. The junior ran a 47.62 in the preliminaries Friday to qualify for
the finals and then shaved over a second off his time in the finals to
pass his personal best and crossed the line at 46.40 seconds to set a
J.J. Keller Field record. That time was also the 10th best finish in
NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field history.
The distance relay tandem of Ollison, Mikalik, Smith and Williamson was
the last taken in the field of 14 relay teams for the national meet.
However, Thursday in the preliminaries, McMurry posted the sixth best
time to advance to the finals. Saturday, McMurry had 29 points and
stood third going into the event, which was the last of the meet.
The four responded by running a time of 3:15.29 to place third and
ensure McMurry and Crousen the first national title in school history.
“I knew if our first two legs could get us close, I knew that Mikalik
and Hann could do it. If we could just get Hann the stick with any type
of chance I knew they could do it,” said Crousen. “He told one of our
other coaches, ‘If I’m close I’m not going to let these guys down and
we’re going to win this national title.”
Ollison is now a 12-time track and field all-American at McMurry. The
junior sprinter has 11 all-America awards in outdoor track and one
indoor all-America award after winning the national title in the
400-meter race at the 2008 Indoor National Championships. He is now
tied with former women’s track star Telitha Belcher, who also had 12
all-America honors while at McMurry, for the most all-America honors in
school history.
Green wrapped up his two-sport career at McMurry as a seven-time
all-American in McMurry’s track and field program. He won all seven
national awards in just three seasons with the team. The 33-year old
former Major League Baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, Texas
Rangers) also played football at McMurry where he was an all-conference
honoree all three seasons.
Mikalik now has six all-America awards, Kelley wrapped up his career
with two while Williamson and Smith earned their first all-America
awards with the 4X400-meter relay team.
“It was great knowing everyone was a contributor,” Crousen said. “I
know it was thrill for them and a thrill for McMurry University.”
McMurry’s women also had a strong showing at the outdoor national meet.
After Holly Rollins set the tone with an individual national title in
the women’s pole vault, McMurry scored 25 points as a team to place
sixth.
Sheneice Johnson and Breanna-Anderson Burton placed fourth and fifth
respectively Saturday in the triple jump to help McMurry’s women lock
in the sixth-place position. For Anderson-Burton, it was her second
all-America award of the national meet after placing fifth in the long
jump Thursday. She jumped 39-02.25 Saturday in the triple jump while
Johnson edged her teammate with a 39-03.00.
Friday, Krystal Jackson helped McMurry’s women by placing seventh in the high jump to earn all-America status.