June 7, 2011
NORMAL, Ill. -
Junior Leigh Petranoff and sophomores Brittany Smith and Tim Glover will look to add to their memorable seasons at the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, June 8-11, in Des Moines, Iowa at Drake Stadium.
Head track and field coach Elvis Forde thinks the group should be proud of their accomplishments and enjoy the experience, but also be ready to compete.
"This week is about competing against the very best in the nation," said Forde. "We think all three of them could become an All-American and finish in top-three in their events, but they will have to be ready to compete against world-class athletes. Leigh has to raise her career-best performance to be an All-American, and we think she is capable of doing that. Brittany is in a similar situation like Leigh. She has worked out wrinkles from the regional and is ready to go, but will be facing strong opponents. Tim enters the championships with the highest rank. Tim's goal for the championships is to be an All-American and the javelin champion. All three are ready to go, and we look forward to seeing how they do."
Glover will be the first to compete for the Redbirds at the four-day event, with the men's javelin trials and finals scheduled for 3:05 p.m., Wednesday, June 8. Petranoff will compete in the women's javelin trials and finals Thursday, June 9, at 3:05 p.m., while Smith will bring the meet to a close Friday, June 10, in the hammer throw beginning at 3 p.m.
Glover, a two-time MVC champion in the javelin, qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second-straight season. Glover finished fifth in the javelin competition with a throw of 240-05 at the NCAA West Region Preliminary Round in Eugene, Ore., to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships. The Normal, Ill., native recorded the farthest throw in the nation at the Valley Championships with a heave of 259-09. The best throw in the nation set Valley, MVC Outdoor Championship and school records. Glover still holds the farthest throw in the nation entering Wednesday's event.
Petranoff earned her spot in the NCAA Championships with a throw of 163-04, which is a school record, and a seventh-place finish. Petranoff, a three-time MVC champion in the javelin, broke her own school record, which she set at the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a throw of 162-00.
Smith qualified for the NCAA Championships with a 10th-place finish in the hammer throw with a mark of 191-01 at the West Region Preliminary Round in Eugene, Ore. Earlier in the season, Smith set a school record in the hammer throw at the 2011 MVC Championships with a throw of 206-03 and earned All-Valley honors with a third-place finish. She also earned all-conference honors in the discus (172-01).
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