Lawson and Coover earn All-American Honors at NCAA Track and Field Championships

Junior Jeff Coover and Senior Kiwan Lawson traveled to Des Moines, Iowa for the first NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship of their careers.\nBoth athletes will not go home empty handed, however, as they both earned All-American medals in the pole vault and long jump respectively. \nLawson competed Thursday night in the finals of the long jump. Although he came up short of his goal of meeting the Olympic ‘A’ standard of 8.05 meters, he finished in 8th place with a jump of 7.74 meters. This was his first All-American honor. \nCoover competed Friday night in the pole vault. With a vault of 5.25 meters and a 7th place finish, Coover captured the Hoosiers first All-American honor in the men’s pole vault since Mark Buse in 1995. \nAlso competing on Friday, senior Kyle Jenkins qualified for the finals in the triple jump with a best of 15.98 meters. The mark was the fourth best overall. Jenkins will compete in the final Saturday at 2p.m. \nSenior Abbie Stechschulte got off to a slow start in the women’s heptathlon before withdrawing due to injury before the last of four events on the day. \nThe final day of competition begins Saturday at 11a.m. with the women’s heptathlon long jump. For live results from the meet go to\nhttp://www.flashresults.com/2008_Meets/outdoor/DivisionI/