THE CONNING TOWER by Keith Conning

e-mail: keithconning@aol.com. I have been a fan, athlete, coach, official, prep editor, author, blogger, and photographer since 1953. I have announced the NCAA West, the Pac-12, the Stanford Invitational, the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, the Mt. SAC Relays, the North Coast Section, the Sac-Joaquin Section, and the California State High School Meet. I have attended five Olympic Games and four World Championships. I am a U.S. Correspondent for Track and Field News.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Abeba Aregawi News

Aregawi provisionally suspended after failed doping test
Omnisport via Yahoo! Sports7 hours agoAbeba Aregawi has been provisionally banned after testing positive for a banned substance, the Swedish Athletics Federation has confirmed.

Pre-Championship Rankings Shed Light On Upcoming NAIA ITF Championships

courtesy By Tyler Mayforth, USTFCCCA

February 29, 2016

NEW ORLEANS — What teams have what it takes to be crowned champion at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships this weekend?

More Info

Click below to see the full:

Going by volume alone, it would be tough to bet against the top-ranked men’s and women’s teams from Indiana Tech.
QUICK LINKS: Men’s Rankings | Women’s Rankings
The Warriors punched 63 total tickets to Johnson City, Tennessee. The lion’s share — or, should we say lioness’ share — belonged to the women, who captured 34 bids compared to 29 for the men.
Doane (Neb.) had the second largest combined total at 43 (22 men’s, 21 women’s), Siena Heights (Mich.) and Concordia (Neb.) are within shouting distance with 35 and 32, respectively.
When you factor in quality — and not just quantity — the Indiana Tech men still stand out, but the women have company.
The Warrior men have 18 athletes ranked in the top-10 nationally, including 11 in the top-3.
As a comparison, the Wayland Baptist (Texas) men — who jumped from No. 3 last week to No. 2 in the pre-championship rankings — have the next-best ratio at 13-to-6. Third-ranked Doane (Neb.) has 15 in the top-10, but just four in the top-3.
Indiana Tech’s women own a slim advantage over second-ranked Doane (Neb.) when it comes to top-10 athletes (17 to 16) and trail the Tigers by one top-3 athlete (7 to 6). In fact, the Warriors are one of three teams with six top-3 athletes — third-ranked Siena Heights (Mich.) and fourth-ranked Wayland Baptist (Texas) are the others.
Let’s break this down further and find out what teams have the best chances to score big in each discipline by looking at the number of entires.
We’ll start on the men’s side.

Sprints/Hurdles: Indiana Tech/Wayland Baptist – 8
Mid-Distance: Oklahoma City – 4
Distance: Oklahoma City/Saint Mary (Kansas) – 4
Relays: Marian (Indiana)/St. Francis (Illinois) – 3
Jumps: Indiana Tech – 12
Throws: Concordia (Neb.) – 11
Combined Events: Doane (Neb.) – 4
Race Walk – Cornerstone (Mich.) – 3

How about for the women?

Sprints/Hurdles: Indiana Tech – 19
Mid-Distance: Biola (Calif.) – 4
Distance: Biola (Calif) – 3
Relays: Five tied with 3
Jumps: Indiana Tech/Siena Heights (Mich.) – 9
Throws: Concordia (Neb.) – 7
Combined Events: Doane (Neb.) – 4
Race Walk – Cornerstone (Mich.) – 5

As it has been for the entire season, Indiana Tech’s teams rely heavily on its sprinters and hurdlers as well as its jumpers. How could it not, 48 of its 63 entries are in those disciplines.
With 18 total entries in the throws, Concordia (Neb.) could clean up in the shot put and weight throw.
Mid-distance and distance belongs to the Oklahoma City men (in addition to the Saint Mary men), while Doane (Neb.) has a stranglehold on the combined events.
All of this looks noble on paper, but until the dust settles Saturday afternoon at the Mountain States Health Alliance Athletics Center, we can’t declare a winner. That’s why they compete on the track and in the field.

USTFCCCA NAIA
Men’s Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2016 Week #6 — February 29 (pre-championships)
next ranking: FINAL, NAIA Championships, March 3-5, Johnson City, Tenn.

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Indiana Tech	451.35	Wolverine-Hoosier	Doug Edgar (7th)	1
2	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	251.97	Sooner Athletic	Brian Whitlock (1st)	3
3	Doane (Neb.)	249.02	Great Plains	Ed Fye (14th)	2
4	Concordia (Neb.)	234.42	Great Plains	Kregg Einspahr (24th)	4
5	Siena Heights (Mich.)	207.84	Wolverine-Hoosier	Tim Bauer (32nd)	5
6	Oklahoma City	145.93	Sooner Athletic	Conor Holt (5th)	6
7	Marian (Ind.)	134.41	Crossroads	Mike Holman (4th)	7
8	Cornerstone (Mich.)	119.36	Wolverine-Hoosier	Rod Wortley (18th)	8
9	Cardinal Stritch (Wis.)	112.39	Chicagoland	Joel Pearson (2nd)	10
10	Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)	97.05	Chicagoland	Michael McDowell (15th)	9
11	Briar Cliff (Iowa)	96.00	Great Plains	Nate Treinen (9th)	12
12	Northwestern (Iowa)	93.12	Great Plains	Scott Bahrke (4th)	14
13	William Carey (Miss.)	89.52	Southern States	Ben Smith (4th)	13
14	Friends (Kan.)	88.97	Kansas Collegiate	Damian Smithhisler (4th)	11
15	St. Ambrose (Iowa)	76.15	Chicagoland	Dan Tomlin (9th)	15
16	Indiana Wesleyan	71.91	Crossroads	John Foss (29th)	18
17	St. Francis (Ill.)	70.10	Chicagoland	Jeff Barker (4th)	16
18	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	65.47	Mid-South	Jamaine Gordon (3rd)	20
19	Bethel (Ind.)	63.72	Crossroads	Tony Natali (18th)	17
20	Hastings (Neb.)	63.33	Great Plains	Ryan Mahoney (3rd)	21
21	Taylor (Ind.)	61.45	Crossroads	David Neville (2nd)	26
22	Eastern Oregon	58.45	Cascade	Ben Welch (12th)	27
23	Graceland (Iowa)	58.26	Heart of America	Reece Vega (3rd)	22
24	Dordt (Iowa)	55.80	Great Plains	Craig Heynen (8th)	19
25	Vanguard (Calif.)	54.07	Golden State	Bryan Wilkins (28th)	23
Dropped out: No. 24 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), No. 25 Westmont (Calif.)
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	Wolverine-Hoosier	884.22	3
2	Great Plains	880.98	6
3	Sooner Athletic	470.48	2
4	Chicagoland	409.42	4
5	Crossroads	363.52	3
6	Heart of America	272.52	1
7	Kansas Collegiate	195.09	1
8	Cascade	181.05
9	Golden State	131.41	2
10	Frontier	110.13	1

Men’s Regional Index Leaders (FINAL)
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Great Lakes	Indiana Tech	853.13	1
Midwest	Doane (Neb.)	623.03	1
South	Warner (Fla.)	442.56	7
South Central	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	555.58	1
West	Westmont (Calif.)	568.06	3
View All Regional Rankings

USTFCCCA NAIA
Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2016 Week #6 — February 29 (pre-championships)
next ranking: FINAL, NAIA Championships, March 3-5, Johnson City, Tenn.

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Indiana Tech	372.26	Wolverine-Hoosier	Doug Edgar (7th)	1
2	Doane (Neb.)	316.41	Great Plains	Ed Fye (14th)	2
3	Siena Heights (Mich.)	285.38	Wolverine-Hoosier	Kirk Richards (4th)	3
4	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	261.59	Sooner Athletic	Brian Whitlock (1st)	4
5	Concordia (Neb.)	205.27	Great Plains	Kregg Einspahr (24th)	5
6	Carroll (Mont.)	163.73	Frontier	Harry Clark (3rd)	6
7	Aquinas (Mich.)	148.27	Wolverine-Hoosier	Dave Wood (20th)	7
8	Southern-New Orleans (La.)	144.19	Gulf Coast	Yhann Plummer (3rd)	8
9	College of Idaho	125.95	Cascade	Pat McCurry (12th)	9
10	Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)	99.12	Chicagoland	Michael McDowell (15th)	10
11	Cornerstone (Mich.)	91.94	Wolverine-Hoosier	Rod Wortley (18th)	16
12	Biola (Calif.)	87.97	Golden State	Sean Henning (1st)	11
13	Hastings (Neb.)	83.20	Great Plains	Ryan Mahoney (3rd)	14
14	Friends (Kan.)	82.63	Kansas Collegiate	Cole Davis (5th)	15
15	St. Francis (Ill.)	80.54	Chicagoland	Jeff Barker (4th)	12
16	Dordt (Iowa)	78.75	Great Plains	Craig Heynen (8th)	13
17	Marian (Ind.)	76.99	Crossroads	Mike Holman (4th)	20
18	St. Ambrose (Iowa)	75.86	Chicagoland	Dan Tomlin (9th)	21
19	Benedictine (Kan.)	69.53	Heart of America	Henry Brun (1st)	17
20	Northwestern (Iowa)	66.53	Great Plains	Scott Bahrke (4th)	19
21	Taylor (Ind.)	58.41	Crossroads	David Neville (2nd)	23
22	Eastern Oregon	58.21	Cascade	Ben Welch (12th)	25
23	Mobile (Ala.)	56.39	Southern States	Andy Canegitta (2nd)	24
24	Oklahoma City	54.94	Sooner Athletic	Conor Holt (5th)	22
25	Westmont (Calif.)	49.92	Golden State	Russell Smelley (37th)	27
Dropped out: No. 18 Missouri Baptist
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	Wolverine-Hoosier	940.65	4
2	Great Plains	937.32	5
3	Sooner Athletic	331.06	2
4	Chicagoland	295.04	3
5	Crossroads	268.46	2
6	Heart of America	226.28	1
7	Frontier	214.39	1
8	Cascade	213.56	2
9	American Midwest	173.11	1
10	Golden State	170.45	1

Women’s Regional Index Leaders (FINAL)
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Great Lakes	Indiana Tech	871.36	1
Midwest	Doane (Neb.)	833.06	1
South	Webber International (Fla.)	406.18	1
South Central	Friends (Kan.)	508.21	1
West	Carroll (Mont.)	833.14	1
		0.00
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View All Regional Rankings

Vanguard University Freshman Thrower Crushing It!

VU Freshman Throwers Crushing It!

T&F & Cross Country - M&W - Sun, Feb. 28, 2016 at 8:20 PM

Results 1 Results 2

POMONA, Calif. – This Saturday, the Track and Field teams from Vanguard competed at the Carl Rossi Relays held at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and found success with freshman throwers and the men's distance relay. The teams were working on two objectives: tuning up for NAIA Indoor Nationals and springing forward to Outdoor Season for the rest of the squad.
Thrower Alex Alvarez (FR/Corona, CA) recorded personal bests in three events Saturday including a discus throw of 119 feet, 3 inches (Vanguard #3 all-time), hammer throw 96'10" (VU #2 all-time) and shot put 34'3" (VU #7 all-time). The duo of Zac Way (FR/Lakewood, CA) (JR/Lakewood, CA) and Nathan Miramontes (FR/Fullerton, CA) (SO/Fullerton, CA) also recorded personal bests, Way in the discus with a throw of 84'2 (VU #10 all-time) and Miramontes in the javelin with a toss of 123'5." On the women's side, a trio of freshmen continue to rack up Vanguard top-10 marks in the throwing events lead by Lydia Perrigo (FR/Hartsburg, MO) who recorded a season best in the shot put 39 feet, 1 & 3/4 inch (VU #2 all-time) and a personal best in the hammer throw 128'4 (VU #4 all-time). Lauryn Cooper (FR/Paso Robles, CA) threw the javelin a personal best 104'3" moving her up to VU #5 all-time and Kaylee Minnick (JR/Victorville, CA) (FR/Victorville, CA) recorded a couple personal bests in the shot put 33'1 3/4 (VU #6 all-time) and hammer throw 116'0" (VU #6 all-time). Daphni Kilgore (SR/Phoenix, AZ) also put forth a personal best on the day recording a 95'11" effort in the javelin throw.
Winston Lawson (JR/Santa Ana, CA) (FR/Santa Ana, CA) won the men's 110 meter hurdles in a sizzling time of 14.84, cracking the 15 second barrier for the first time in his life. Lawson's time ranks #2 all-time among VU men behind four time NAIA All-American hurdler Aze Perkins. Daniel Alade (NA/Bakersfield, CA) (FR/Bakersfield, CA) raced to a personal best 11.24 in the men's 100 meter dash moving him up to VU #6 all-time in the event. The men's distance medley relay (comprised of Jared Shohfi (SR/Pleasanton, CA) (JR/Pleasanton, CA), Alec Duran (FR/La Verne, CA), Zach DeAtley (JR/Victorville, CA) and Josh Espinoza (SR/Glendale, AZ)) tuned up for next week's NAIA Indoor Nationals with a 6th place overall finish among 29 teams with a time of 10:25.36. The men's 4x400 meter relay (including Noah Eley (FR/Huntington Beach, CA), Alade, Kero Makramalla and Quinton Alexander (SR/Las Vegas, NV)) crossed the finish line in 3:45.65.
Ayana Chambers (SO/Bellflower, CA) lead the charge for the Vanguard women with a season best 16.98 in the 100 meter hurdles, her first sub-17 second effort this season. Chambers also combined with Ashley Ramey (SR/Huntington Beach, CA), Bayleigh Porter (JR/Riverside, CA) and Sarah Finch (JR/Redondo Beach, CA) to record a season best time of 4:20.40 in the 4x400 meter relay. Porter and Finch also competed in the women's distance medley relay (along with Lauren Soholt (SO/Riverside, CA) (JR/Riverside, CA) and Keili Dorn (FR/Kailua-Kona, HI)) finishing 18th among 30 teams in a time of 13:25.19.
UPCOMING MEETS
March 3rd-5th: NAIA Indoor Nationals (Johnson City, TN) Lawson, Shohfi, Duran, DeAtley, Espinoza
March 4th: Coast Classic (Orange Coast College) All other Vanguard Athletes

-GOLD PRIDE-

Malik Floyd-Stinson Bounds to Top of State Leader List; Panthers Impressive in 2016 Debut

Courtesy St. Mary's College High School

February 27^th, 2016

Picking up right where they left off, the Saint Mary’s track & field team opened their 2016 season in impressive fashion at the 12^th annual Skyline Invitational in Oakland. The girls team, the defending TCL league & North Coast Section champions, posted individual wins in the 800 meters and triple jump… along with capturing both relay gold medals.
“The girls have been training very well thus far so their performances are no surprise to us,” said coach

Jay Lawson after the meet. “ We sort of expected the season to open with our top people showcasing their talents and I think we saw that today.”
Indeed, the girls 4 x 400 team of Avi Wilson-Perteete, Kenady Jackson, Noelle Shaw and Kali Hatcher posted the state’s 3^rd fastest time on the opening weekend of track & field in the Golden State… while the 4 x 100 team (which inserts De’Jah Robinson for Noelle) ran the 2^nd fastest time in the NCS this season. Avi would come back later to win the 800 meters in 2:18.37, Kali would win the triple jump, Kenady would place 2^nd in the open 400 (59.80) and 3^rd in the 200 (25.77), Noelle would run a PR 62.10 for 3^rd in the 400, Giauna ran 12.93 for 100 meters and 3^rd, and De’Jah opened her 2016 hurdle season with a 16.67/47.64 double in the 100 and 300 hurdles respectively. In the field, sophomores Kobi Thompson’s 4’10 high jump and

Janelle Ingram’s 33’7 triple jump placed them 3^rd and 4^th in those events.
For the boys, success was equally recognizable as senior Malik Floyd Stinson hopped, stepped and jumped his way to the top of the state leader board with a 46’5 wind legal win in the boys triple jump. After finishing 3^rd in the open 100 meter dash, he finished his day by winning the long jump in a PR 20’11”.
“Malik is incredibly talented and has really benefitted from a lot of pre-season running and conditioning,” commented coach Jeff Rogers. “I expect Malik to be one of the elite jumpers in California this year. He’s putting the work in and it’s showing.”
Joining Malik on the victory stand on Saturday was fellow senior Cameron James who won the 200 meters in a PR 22.39. Just behind him was teammate Tamarick Pierce in 22.78. The other boys medalist of the day was Owen Woo in the boys mile. Owen’s 4:39 was a PR and, couple with his 9:59 opening

3200 a week ago, indicates that his junior season could be very successful. Also running well and posting a lifetime best was fellow junior Donye Green, who placed 4^th in the open 800 in 2:05.08.
All in all, Saturday was a great opening weekend. Some 50 athletes competed for the Panthers, many who had never exchanged a baton, risen from a starting block, counted their steps down a runway, or had to stay in their lane. Still, everyone competed and performed very well. The present and future of track & field continues to look promising.

NCAA Division II Track & Field 2015-16 All-Region Honorees (Indoor)

VIEW ON THE WEB

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has announced the All-Region honorees for the 2015-16 NCAA Division II indoor track & field season.
The top five individuals in each event from each region earned the All-Region distinction, in addition to each of the members of the regions’ top three relay teams. The regions used for this award match those used during the cross country season.

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Contact: Kyle TerwillegarDirector of Communications
kyle@ustfccca.org
(504) 599-8905

U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association
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New Orleans, LA 70163

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