11 set NCAA standards

The men's track and field team competed in its first home meet of the season this weekend and was fortunate enough to have perfect weather. The squad went up against tough competition with Central Michigan and Indiana State and came out on top of the triangular meet, by two points over the Chippewas 157-155. Indiana State finished with 90 points. \nThe team scores were in doubt until the final event came in -- the discus, in which junior Mike Minton placed first, ensuring the victory.\n"It was a good opener," junior Tom Burns said. "Today was just a day to get out that and put out a good time and see where we were compared to last year."\nThe Jefferson twins, Sean and John, provided an exciting performance in the distance events. Redshirt freshman Sean Jefferson competed first in 1,500-meter race and dominated on his way to a time of 3:44.17. Junior Nathan Purcell helped the freshman to the time by pacing him through a fast start.\n"My plan was to go out hard and take it where I've never been before and see what I could do," Jefferson said. "I wanted to really just push that third lap so I could see what I had left at the end."\nSophomore John Jefferson competed in the 5,000-meter race and played with the competition on his way to victory. He cruised the first 11 1/2 laps before unleashing a potent kick to catch three Central Michigan runners. He finished with a time of 14:18.85 with a last lap of approximately 57 seconds, leaving spectators shaking their heads.\n"(Jefferson) may have the fastest finishing kick in the country," sophomore Eric Redman said.\nThe distance crew carried the running events with the Jeffersons winning their events as well as Burns winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a regional qualifying mark of 9:00.27. Matt Sweetman also met the mark with a time of 9:10.49 in his third place finish in the event.\n"I was a little bit nervous beforehand," Burns said. "I know I'm really fit right now and I knew I was going to run a good time, but I had to just go out there and do it. I was never in this position before because I was always injured in the winter."\nThe sprinters also fared well with junior Contrell Ash winning the 100-meter dash, freshman Andre Grimes earning the victory in the 200-meter dash, and junior Daniel Martin winning the 400-meter hurdles.\nCoach Marshall Goss said before the meet that he hoped for many athletes to set the provisional standard for the NCAA regional meet this weekend. His hopes were answered as 11 athletes met their marks. Several said that making the standard takes some of the pressure off so they can focus completely on the competition aspect of their respective events. \nThe team next competes at the Drake and Penn Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, and Philadelphia, respectively, on April 25-27.