Battle and Buffs hit records and qualifying marks

by Jeff Birchfield
Johnson City Press

Johnson City, Tenn. --- Sheldon Battle shattered the meet record at the 30th annual Niswonger Invitational at Memorial Center with a throw of 63-03.50, but the former University of Kansas All-American felt he could have done a lot better.

“I think a bigger throw was there,” Battle said. “I don't know if I was ready this early in the season, but I felt I could have thrown farther. Overall, I'm happy with my performance for this time of the year.”

Battle, who is preparing for the U.S. Olympic Trails in late June, estimates he's farther along with his throwing than this time a year ago.

The Niswonger was also a time for athletes from Milligan to test their mettle against some of the nation's best.

Milligan College had several ladies qualify for the upcoming NAIA national meet. For a second straight year, the Distance Medley Relay team met the national mark with a time of 12:37.17.

Brittany Bales, Jacklyn Talbert and MacKenzie LaBonte were joined by Nicole Moore, who was called upon after a back injury suffered by Kortney Goulds. They were fourth in their race behind a winning effort by the University of Alabama-Birmingham at 11:53.31.

“When Kortney got injured, we had to find a replacement,” said Bales. “Nicole stepped it up today in the 1,200 and did awesome. We did what we needed to get done. It's a strong point for us to build on.”

All four of the DMR runners added good individual finishes. LaBonte finished second in the 3,000 with her time of 10:19.80 only nine seconds off the school record. Moore was ninth in the race at 10:48.85, a personal record.

Talbert qualified for the 1-mile with her fourth-place run of 5:14.85, while Bales was two spots behind at 5:21.76.

Earlier in the day, the Lady Buff trio of Rebecca McDowell, Ashley Pearce and Erika Fox finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively in the 5,000.

The abundance of good finishes proved satisfying to Milligan head coach Chris Layne.

“We had 26 people entered in the meet and there were quite a few bright spots,” Layne said. “We had a bunch of personal bests and national qualifiers. We also got most of the things out of the way we needed to. It was a good day overall.”