Reed, Burlingham claim national pole vault titles on day one of NJCAA indoors
Pittsburg, Kan. – One day, two national championships.
That was the big story for the Mesa track and field teams Friday as Calla Reed and Kasey Burlingham both brought home pole vault national titles at the NJCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Both entered the meet as top seeds and didn't disappoint. Reed, an All-American last year, took the women's crown with a leap of 12-3 ½, while Burlingham, who was more than a foot better than anyone else in the field in qualifying, won by almost a foot and and a half, shattering the 17-foot barrier with a 17-1 mark. He is MCC's fifth national pole vault champion since 2010.
One major disappointment for Mesa, however, was that All-American Alyson Girard, who was seeded in the top four in the mile, 3000 and 5000 was unable to compete in the two longer events due to illness. She could still compete in the mile Saturday.
The first day's results saw the T-Bird men sitting in eighth place with 11.5 points and the women fifth with 20 points.
MCC took three of the top six places in the women's pole vault with Justice Angel taking fifth at 11-3 ¾ and Ally Keil sixth with the same height, but more misses.
Burlingham also wasn't alone in the pole vault scoring for the men as Riley Korcuska tied for seventh with a leap of 14-9. Eric Cochran cleared the same height but placed tenth due to more misses.
Also for the men, Xavier Johnson was in fourth place in the heptathlon after the first four events with 2669 points.
For the women, Catherine Bryant placed sixth in the pentathlon with 3275 points.
Also, Onnika Scott was 12th in the shot put at 47-7 ¾ and Zach Harrach qualified for the finals in the men's 1,000, finishing seventh in the prelim at 2:34.13. Adrian King was 12th in the long jump at 22-3 ½.
The championships conclude Saturday.