Herl takes national lead in weight throw

Mel Herl, senior of Eaton, Colorado, now leads the entire NCAA in the women’s weight throw after a toss of 21.89 meters at the Colorado Mines Classic Meet at Colorado School of Mines, Golden.
Herl’s throw is the fourth best in NCAA D-II history, and she is the second best performer on the list. Herl qualified for the national meet at the first meet of the season last week at Black Hills State University, Spearfish, South Dakota, with a 21.36m throw. The women’s weight throw began Thursday but when Herl was warming up to throw, her weight became tangled in a batting cage net that was up in the rafters of the facility. Her weight was removed from the net and was available for her to throw again on Friday, where she grabbed the national lead. Herl was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Athlete of the Week for NCAA D-II women Tuesday.
In addition to Herl, the CSC women’s track & field team has two national leaders in three events. The Eagles also reached eight provisionally qualifying standards for the national meet while competing in Golden.
Defending NCAA D-II long jump champion and RMAC Preseason Athlete of the Year for indoor track and field Stachia Reuwsaat, senior of Black Hawk, South Dakota, jumped 6.07, earning a provisionally qualifying mark, to win the event and become the D-II leader in the event. Reuwsaat was just short of the automatically qualifying mark of 6.1. Reuwsaat also leads the nation and earned another provisionally qualifying time in the 60m dash, running it in 7.5 seconds to break her school record of 7.57 set last season.
Other provisional qualifiers include: Tessa Gorsuch, junior of Rapid City, South Dakota, leading the D-II field in the 60m high hurdles, crossing the line in 8.53; Jesse Bleidt, junior of Lewellan, who won the weight throw with a PR toss of 18.16, besting his already provisionally qualifying throw last week, and is now ranked fifth in the D-II field; Blake Jacobs, junior of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, earned third place in the shot put with a toss of 16.33, just .04 shy of his provisional throw last week; Kharon Hall, freshman of Parker, Colorado, went 14.47 for fourth place in the triple jump; Javan Lanier, freshman of Aurora, Colorado, long jumped 7.09, placing fifth at the meet; and Maddie Brashears, sophomore of Fort Morgan, Colorado, placed seventh in the long jump, going 5.75.
The Eagles had several athletes earn top 10 spots at the meet. Along with his provisional long jump mark, Lanier also won the men’s 60m dash, running 6.94. Ashlyn Hanson, junior of Seward, placed third with a throw of 16.31. Hanson provisionally qualified for nationals last week. Alisha Heelan, junior of Oshkosh, placed third in the 400m dash with a time of 1:00.39. Matt Klein, senior of Scottsbluff, ran 8.51 to place fourth in the 60m hurdles. Cory Martens, redshirt sophomore of Newton, Kansas, placed fourth in the weight throw with a toss of 6.64. Keri Ruff, senior of Eaton, Colorado, marked a throw 15.24 for fifth place in the weight throw. David Aldridge, junior of Omaha, placed fifth in the shot put with a toss of 15.73 and eighth in the weight throw marking 15.46. Frantzlee Lacrete placed seventh in the weight throw with a toss of 15.91.
Alejandro Garcia, senior of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, was named the RMAC Men’s Cross Country Academic Runner of the Year Tuesday. Garcia has a 4.0 GPA in Health & Physical Education. He became the first CSC cross country athlete to qualify for the national meet in November. Garcia has earned several notable awards throughout his running career including three RMAC Summit Awards, the NCAA Elite 90 Award, RMAC Athlete of the Week, Scholar Athlete of the Year, RMAC First-Team All Academic, All Region First-Team Honors, USTFCCCA All-Academic Honors, and CoSIDA Academic All-American Honors. Garcia does not have indoor track & field eligibility but will compete in the outdoor season.
The Eagles will travel to Spearfish, South Dakota, for the Myrie Hanson Open on Friday, Jan. 13, 2017.