THE CONNING TOWER by Keith Conning: Another College Record for Barber Headlines Indoor T&F National Athlete of the Week Honorees

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

February 16, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – This season is truly the Year of the Vault.

Shawn Barber of Akron broke his own collegiate record in the men’s pole vault for the second week in a row, and for the second week in a row he headlines the National Athletes of the Week announced Monday evening by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

He’s now a three-time honoree this year, and is joined as a Division I honoree by Providence’s Emily Sisson. The Friar got the nod from among a strong group of distance runners who are all truly deserving, but Sisson accomplished one thing the others didn’t: a head-to-head victory over Track & Field News national championship favorite and NCAA cross country champ Kate Avery of Iona.

Speaking of records, Minnesota State’s Myles Hunter took down the NCAA Division II record in the 60-meter hurdles to win the DII men’s award, while Harding distance runner Ewa Zaborowska of Harding posted what is believed to be a DII record at 3000 meters to take the women’s honor. Both earned their second awards of the season.

Mitchell Black of Tufts and Divya Biswal of St. Lawrence earned men’s and women’s honors in NCAA Division III, while Emanuel Durden of Cloud County CC and Chrisann Gordon of South Plains – the new NJCAA 400-meters record – took the NJCAA awards.

Click each of the student-athletes’ names above or keep scrolling below to read about the exploits that made all eight worthy.

National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to eight (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions, plus the NJCAA) collegiate track & field athletes.

Nominations are open to the public. Coaches and sports information directors are encouraged to nominate their student-athletes; as are student-athletes, their families and friends, and fans of their programs.

The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors will also play a role in the decision.

DIVISION I MEN – Shawn Barber, Akron

Junior | Kingwood, Texas

For the second weekend in a row, Akron’s Shawn Barber soared higher than any other collegian in the history of the indoor pole vault. After his record-setting performance at home a week ago, he took the show on the road to Arkansas’ Tyson Invitational. There, he cleared 19-4.1.4 (5.90m) on his second attempt to become the first collegian to hit the 5.90 barrier indoors and just the third to do it including outdoors.

The defending national indoor champion did so at the site of this year’s NCAA Championships, and against what will be his biggest competition for the title in two-time NCAA indoor champion Andrew Irwin of Arkansas and Jake Blankenship of Tennessee. Even at his best with a career-record 5.80m clearance, Irwin couldn’t match Barber.

The vault, pending ratification, is his third Canadian Record of the season, and it puts him equal to No. 18 on the all-time world indoor performers list.

Honorable mention: Marquis Dendy, Florida; Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Purdue; Eric Jenkins, Oregon; Cristian Soratos, Montana State; Omar McLeod, Arkansas; John Teeters, Oklahoma State

DIVISION I WOMEN – Emily Sisson, Providence

Senior | Chesterfield, Missouri

Emily Sisson’s fourth-place finish in the Millrose Games 3000 meters in 8:52.60 may not have been the event’s fastest collegiate performance of the weekend (that’d be Dominique Scott of Arkansas just .03 faster on Washington’s oversized track) or the most dramatic (that’d be Erin Teschuk of North Dakota State taking the Iowa State Classic win at the line), but it did come against the most significant competition in the fastest head-to-head collegiate showdown in history.

With a final-lap 33.60 split on the banked 200-meter track at The Armory in NYC, she surged past Iona’s Kate Avery – the same Kate Avery who steamrolled the field at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in November and was named the national title favorite in this event by Track & Field News in its March 2015 edition – to nab top collegiate honors in the race.

With the performance, Sisson moved to No. 5 on the all-time collegiate list in the event with Avery slotting right in behind at No. 6 in 8:53.12. Sisson is now top-five all-time in both this event and at 5000 meters with her 15:21.84 from December placing her No. 4 all-time.

Watch the race here.

An extra-special honorable mention to Colleen Quigley of Florida State, who ran the No. 5 mile in collegiate history in 4:29.67 at Boston U on Friday and came back the next day to run a 4:32 split as the anchor 1600-meter leg of FSU’s distance medley relay.

Honorable mention: Colleen Quigley, Florida State; Dominique Scott, Arkansas; Raven Saunders, Southern Illinois; Kyra Jefferson, Florida; Remona Burchell, Alabama; Akela Jones, Kansas State

DIVISION II MEN – Myles Hunter, Minnesota State

Sophomore | Conyers, Georgia

Myles Hunter has been flirting with the NCAA Division II record in the 60-meter hurdles (7.69) for most of the 2015 campaign, including a 7.74 performance earlier this season that netted him National Athlete of the Week honors. He finally got it this weekend, dropping a blistering 7.64 to win at the SDSU Indoor Classic.

The time surpasses the former record held by Decosma Wright of Lincoln (Mo.) from the 2006 NCAA DII Championships, and Saint Augustine’s Deworski Odom from 1999. It also puts him No. 2 on the 2015 all-college performance and performers list behind defending NCAA Division I champion Omar McLeod of Arkansas.

Honorable Mention: Drew Windle, Ashland; Jordan Edwards, Academy of Art; Matt Daniels & Kevin Batt, Adams State

DIVISION II WOMEN – Ewa Zaborowska, Harding

Senior | Wejherowo, Poland

Another repeat honoree, Zaborowska returned to the Birmingham CrossPlex – the site of her award-winning, then-collegiate-leading 3000 meters – to regain the NCAA Division II lead in a quick 9:23.01 to win the Samford Multi and Invitational. Indoor track & field all-time records are incomplete, but the time is believed to be an NCAA Division II record.

She defeated Middle Tennessee State’s Hannah Maina by 25 seconds to take the win, which reclaimed her No. 1 spot in DII from Hillsdale’s Emily Oren.

DIVISION III MEN – Mitchell Black, Tufts

Junior | Brunswick, Maine

At Saturday’s Boston U. Valentine Invitational, 205 men – many of them among the region’s best with an additional challenge from Florida State – contested the 800 meters over 18 different sections. Tufts’ Mitchell Black ran faster than all but four of them, making some NCAA Division III history along the way.

The junior finished fifth in the fast section in 1:49.16, moving him up to No. 4 on the all-time DIII performers list and making him just the seventh member of the sub-1:50 indoor club. His is the fastest time in Division III since Ben Scheetz of Amherst set the DIII record of 1:47.43 at the NEICAAA Championships in 2012, and the fastest of 2015 by a three-second margin (unconverted).

Honorable mention: Luke Winder, North Central (Ill.); Dominique Neloms, UW-La Crosse; Charlie Marquardt, Haverford; Ronnie Posthauer, Wabash

DIVISION III WOMEN – Divya Biswal, St. Lawrence

Senior | Ottawa, Ontario

Jess Huber of Plattsburgh State and Maryann Gong of MIT may have recorded all-time top-10 performances in their events this weekend at Boston U, but no one did more for their team than Divya Biswal of Saint Lawrence. The defending outdoor national triple jump champ scored a whopping 40 points as her team claimed the Liberty League Indoor T&F Championship, 194½ – 166½, over RIT.

She posted wins in the long jump, triple jump and 60-meter hurdles, plus runner-up finishes at 60 meters and as a leg of the 4×200 relay. Each and every one of the performances were or approached career-bests for the senior. Her long jump win with an indoor PR 18-5¼ (5.62m) ranks fourth in DIII this year; her triple jump of 38-9 (11.81m) is seventh; her 60-meter hurdles PR of 9.04 in the prelims is No. 14. She also posted a near-PR of 8.09 in the 60-meter prelims.

Honorable mention: Jess Huber, Plattsburgh State; Maryann Gong, MIT

NJCAA MEN – Emanuel Durden, Cloud County CC

Freshman | Holland, Ohio

It’s been a long time since any NJCAA man has leapt as high as Cloud County CC’s Emanuel Durden in the high jump. In order to surpass his 7-2½ (2.20m) clearance to win the Concordia (Neb.) Indoor Invitational, one would have to flip all the way back to 2012 when James White of Iowa Central (currently of Nebraska) jumped 7-5 (2.26m) to win the NJCAA Indoor Title.

It very nearly didn’t happen for Durden. The frosh cleared 2.17m on his third and final attempt, and again had to wait until try No. 3 at 2.20m to achieve his final height. He did not attempt any further bars, finishing the day with a nine-centimeter college PR.

NJCAA WOMEN – Chrisann Gordon, South Plains

Freshman | Cave Valley, Jamaica

Think we were done with record-setting performances? Not quite, as Chrisann Gordon of South Plains College toppled the NJCAA indoor 400-meter record with a scintillating 52.41 at Arkansas’ Tyson Invitational to finish fifth in competition that featured six of the top-10 collegians of the 2015 season.

She surpassed the previous record of 53.51 set by Kareen Gayle of Barton County CC in 2003.

Most impressively, she did it out of the very first section, which was among the 15 sections contested earlier in the day on Saturday before the final four during the "primetime" of the meet. Among those she defeated on time were two-time NCAA Division I Outdoor Champion Ashley Spencer of Texas, No. 4 collegian of 2015 Shakima Wimbley of Miami (Fla.) and 2013 indoor/outdoor NCAA Division I 800 meters champion Natoya Goule of Clemson.