Another strong weekend for Barton women’s track and field punching eight more national entries during Holiday Inn Invitational

The Barton Community College women's track and field team added eight more national qualifying performance after competing in their second indoor meet of the season this weekend at the Holiday Inn Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska.   Competing against both NCAA and NJCAA level teams along with professional athletes training for Olympic hopes, the Lady Cougars had twelve top-10 finishes to go along with the national qualifying performances.  

In the field events Michelle Tomlin finished second in Saturday's shot put between two University of Nebraska throwers increasing her national qualifying distance to 14.73m, bettering last week's best throw of 14.43m.   Having already qualified with a 14.91m in the weight throw last week, Tomlin competed in Friday's competition placing tenth at 14.15m.

The Lady Cougars took sixth and eighth in the long jumps, as both Tasha Frazier and Ayesha Champagnie met national qualifying marks in their first time in the event this season.   Frazier flew for 5.51m on her second jump while Champagnie also struck on her second jump hitting 5.41m.

Frazier also led on the short track utilizing her spring and speed to finish fourth in the 60m hurdles bettering her national qualifying time to 8.64. Champagnie also had a strong event finishing .01 from qualifying for finals with a NQ standard 8.97 although slightly slower than last week's 8.84 time.

Rian Robinson qualified for nationals in two events during the weekend beginning with the 60m dash.  Clocking a 7.70 in Friday's qualifying round, Robinson reached the finals but did not compete after clocking a 7.76 in Saturday's prelims.   Later in the day Robinson also hit NQ standards in the 400m at 56.43, finishing second only to an unattached runner.

In the 200m the Lady Cougars took the fifth and sixth spots with national qualifying times.  Tamara Style finished .02 ahead of teammate Sabrina Mason as the pair crossed the line in 25.25 and 25.27 respectively.

Asha Douglas, who qualified last week in the 800m, bettered her time in the event on Friday finishing third behind two Division I athletes at 2:16.68.

In the distance events, sophomore Holly Pierce punched her trip to the indoor nationals with a 3,000m clocking of 11:18.81.

The Lady Cougars assembled their 4X400m relay team for the first time as the combination of Chanelle Ricketts, Widline Lageroy, O'Neisha Glover, and Brooklyn Polk captured fifth place in a national qualifying time of 3:54.97. 

Complete Holiday Inn Invitational results