March 6, 2008
Track and Field Notes | March 6, 2008 
NORMAL, Ill. -
In a final effort to qualify for the NCAA Division I track and field Championship (March 14-15 in Fayetteville, Ark.) the Illinois State track and field team will send seniors Suzy Turner and Alex Straughn to participate in last chance meets. Turner will travel to Notre Dame, Ind., to compete at the Alex Wilson Invitational March 7, while Straughn will compete at Iowa State Last Chance in Ames, Iowa, March 8.
Turner will be competing in her first 5,000-meter run of the indoor season. This season she has posted personal-best performances for the Redbirds in the 3,000-meter (9:48.62) and mile (4:58.39) and was selected to the Missouri Valley All-Conference team for her performance in the 3,000 and distance medley relay at the Valley Indoor Championships (March 1-2). A provisional qualifying time in the 5,000 is 16:45.00, while a time of 16:08.00 is an automatic trip to nationals.
The ideal situation would be for both Turner and Straughn to each earn automatic qualifying performances, however after a strenuous weekend at the conference championships last weekend head track and field coach Elvis Forde is just hoping the two can gather enough energy to earn personal-best performances.
"It is very difficult to come off a conference weekend, especially in individual events, and then try to go out and compete at a NCAA qualifying standard the next weekend," said Forde. "I just hope that they can just muster enough drive and determination to get the job done. I hope that Suzy can go and have a fine run in the 5,000. Part of the reason she is competing this weekend is to give her an opportunity to run in a competitive field."
Straughn, who just this past weekend won the triple jump at the MVC Indoor Championships and took third in the high jump, will look to gain an automatic-qualifying performance in both events. Straughn currently holds The Valley's best triple jump with a personal-best distance of 49 feet, 11.25 inches. To provisionally qualify, Straughn will have to reach a distance of 50-06.25 or 52-10.00 (automatic) in the triple jump.
In the high jump, the St. Philip, Barbados native will have to clear a height of 7-01 to earn a provisional performance or reach 7-04.25 to gain an automatic ticket to the national championships. Straughn's personal best in the high jump is 6-11. This season he has come close to surpassing his personal-best, but currently holds a season-best height of 6-10.75.
"Alex has a chance of hitting a qualifying mark but he is going to have to jump extremely well in both events," said Forde. "He is going to have to put forth great effort to meet the high standards required of athletes to qualify for the national championships."
