In an all-too-brief indoor track and field season, Allen Community College’s athletes continued to set the pace for what could be a memorable year for Red Devil thinclads. MEANWHILE, a separate group of Allen athletes headed to Columbia, Mo., for the Missouri Invitational Feb. 7, where they garnered several top-10 finishes, again versus Division I athletes. ALLEN sent several athletes to Joplin Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 for the Missouri Southern Invitational.
The latest chapter came last weekend, when Allen’s athletes earned five national-qualifying marks at the Husker Invitational, a two-day meet hosted by the University of Nebraska.
Terika Henry, Vanessa Style and Bruce Barclay highlighted the competition by qualifying and setting school records in the process. Style did both with her 60-meter hurdles time of 8.59 seconds — the second fastest mark among junior college athletes in the nation. She repeated her time in the finals, earning fifth place against NCAA Division I athletes.
Terika Henry’s 400-meter dash time of 57.41 seconds also set a school record and qualified for nationals.
On the men’s side, Bruce Barclay’s time of 8.11 seconds in the 60 hurdles was good for another school record and qualified him for nationals.
In addition, Zac McCoy qualified for nationals with his 400 time of 48.99 seconds, as did the Red Devils’ 4×400-meter relay squad, with its time of 3 minutes, 18.51 seconds. Deandrea Henderson qualified in the 200 with a time of 21.92 seconds.
Allen head coach Vince DeGrado showered praise upon the athletes and ACC’s sprints coach, Tony Davis.
“They’re turning it up and lighting it up,” DeGrado said. “Terika is doing what Terika has done for the past two years, and Vanessa is the real deal. She’s going to be in the running for a national championship.
“I can’t say enough about how good Coach Davis is,” he continued. “He’s a Division I-level coach. We’re fortunate to have him here this season.”
Brandon Bernal, who has signed to run track for the University of Kansas next season, took home second in the mile run at 4:23.99.
“He beat a couple of Missouri guys,” DeGrado said. “He’s got some good things going on.”
Also at Missouri, Kyle Schauvliege finished seventh in the 5000 meters in 15:48.92. Connor Immenschuh was second in the 1000 meters at 2:40.16.
MeShach Adams finished fourth in the 800, followed by Dallas Snider in eighth. Patrick Rachford finished seven in the 5000. Tucker Morgan was 10th in the mile.
Bernal’s time was 1 second short of qualifying for nationals, DeGrado said.
“MeShach has really turned it on for us, and Dallas is going to be good,” DeGrado said.
The competition comes amid a few changes in training for Allen’s distance runners, DeGrado noted.
While competitive, DeGrado still saw room for improvement, “so we went back to some old-school training,’ he said. “It’s amazing how much difference I’ve seen in just two weeks.”
The goal at MSSU was for athletes to register marks in order to compete at the upcoming Region VI/Jayhawk Conference championships in Overland Park Wednesday through Friday.
The Allen women did more than that.
Henry’s 60-meter dash time of 7.67 seconds and her 200 time of 24.85 seconds both are new school records. Both qualified her for nationals. Styles also qualified in the 60 with her time of 7.84 seconds.
Snider qualified there in the 800 at 1:58.79.
On the men’s side, snider qualified for nationals with his 800-meter time of 1:58.79. Elsewhere, Roderick Simmons captured fourth in the 60 hurdles, 7.05 seconds, as did McCoy in the 400. Allen’s 4×400 relay team took fifth. Rickcardo Bailey took sixth in the 400.
Husker Invitational
Feb. 7-8
Men
400m — Zac McCoy, 48.99 (N)
60m H — Bruce Barclay, 8.11 (N) (S)
200m — Deandrea Henderson, 21.92 (N)
4×400 — Allen-A, 3:18.51, (N)
Women
400m — Terika Henry, 57.41 (N) (S)
60m H — 5. Vanessa Style, 8.59 (N) (S)
Triple jump — Elesha Alyn, 37’9.5”
Missouri Invitational
Feb. 7
Men
800m — 4. MeShach Adams, 1:58.62; 8. Dallas Snider, 1:59.67; Markeen Caine, 2:00.73; Thomas Broxterman, 2:05.63
1 Mile — 2. Brandon Bernal, 4:23.99; 10. Tucker Morgan, 4:32.26
5000m — 2. Kyle Schauvliege, 15:49.92; 7. Patrick Rachford, 16:21.85
1000m — 2. Connor Immenschuh, 2:40.16
Missouri Southern Invitational
Jan. 31-Feb. 1
Men
Long jump — Jethro St. Hubert, 21’7.5”
Distance medley relay — Allen-B 11:00.65
200m — Michael Burns, 22.45; Roderick Simmons, 22.75; Antonio Duncan, 22.81; Kelvin Gant, 22.82; Jethro St. Hubert, 23.13; Kyle Smith, 23.21
3000m — Salvador Medrano, 9:19.11; Trail Spears, 9:31.41; Diego Sanchez, 9:47.08
60m — Roderick Simmons, 6.96 (prelims) and 7.05 (finals-fourth place); Jethro St. Hubert, 7.03; Deandrae Henderson, 7.05; Kelvin Gant, 7.10; Zac McCoy, 7.16
60m H — Zodani Francois, 8.79
1 Mile — Connor Immenschuh, 4:35.77; MeShach Adams, 4:37.11
400m — 4. Zac McCoy, 50.42; 6. Rickcardo Bailey, 50.71; Antonio Duncan, 51.40; Rohan Mullings, 52.31; Royal Gatson, 53.09
600 yards — Thomas Broxterman, 1:16.56
800m — Dallas Snider, 1:58.79 (N); Markeen Caine, 2:01.17
5000m — Salvador Medrano, 16:15.21; Brock Artis, 16:19.85; Trail Spears, 16:30.68; Angel Vasquez, 16:31.48; Diego Sanchez, 16.59.49
4×400 — 5. Allen-C, 3:12.12; Allen-D, 3:34
Women
Long jump — Elesha Alyn, 16’5”
200m — Terika Henry, 24.85 (N) (S)
60m — Terika Henry, 7.67 (N) (S); Vanessa Styles, 7.84 (N); Elesha Alyn, 7.92
400m — Samantha Melillo, 1:04.81
Allen hits high gear as indoor track season hits home stretch
