Three National Qualifiers at IC4As, Donadt Improves in 400h

(5/15/2010) See more Photos     Full Results

With a handful of athletes competing at the DIII ECAC Championships at Springfield College, a trio of Jumbos headed south to Princeton University for the 2010 IC4A Championships. Seniors Trevor Donadt, Jesse Faller, and Jared Engelking competed against some of the best athletes on the east coast and came out with some great tune-up performances for the upcoming National Championships.

Faller got things started on Friday evening in the 5,000m. Lined up shoulder to shoulder with the NCAA collegiate 10k record holder Sam Chelanga, Faller went after this race with great focus and intensity. After a first lap of 65 and first mile of 4:29, Faller held his ground to come through the 3k in 8:33. Two tough laps in 3rd mile created a slight gap between Faller and the front pack.

Working through the rough patch, Faller regained steam for a final kick in the last 800m. Sadly though, no one fell off the back of the front pack leaving Faller bubbled without anyone to chase down in his final kick. His 14:30 was a great tune up for the NCAA Championships where it is safe to say that the opening mile will be somewhat more conservative and tactical than his blistering 4:29.

With Fridays distance events completed, Faller handed off the baton to the pair of Jumbo hurdlers. Coming off his national qualifying decathlon from the week before, captain Jared Engelking battled for a 14.78 in the trials of the 110H. Engelkings race set up like any typical race for the All American decathlete – get beat a bit out of the blocks, start to run down athletes in the middle, move past in the final few hurdles.

However, this time around, the final step of moving past in the last few hurdles didn’t happen. After hitting hurdles 4, 5, 6, and 7, Engelking lacked his normal momentum going into the final push. Regardless, for the senior to put together a national caliber race and know that there is much improvement to be made is a great sign moving forward.

The final race of the weekend for the Jumbos would be in the hands of 400 hurdler Trevor Donadt. Donadt PRd the week before at the Open New England Championships to move him onto the national championship bubble. He would need to run a few tenths faster in order to feel comfortable about qualifying. He would do exactly that.

Donadt assembled the best race of his life through 7 hurdles and nearly saw his race slip away with a falter at the 8th hurdle. Not to be thwarted, Donadt recovered well and negative split the final two hurdles to kick home for his 53.07, a lifetime best.

It now looks as though the trio will continue to travel together with the next trip being to Cleveland, OH for the 2010 NCAA Championships. Engelking will have his choice of the 110H and decathlon while Faller is qualified in both the 10k and 5k events. Stay tuned because things are about to get really interesting.


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