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EMPORIA, Kansas -- Jessica Withrow opened the heptathlon with a personal best of 14.52 in the 100 hurdles here Thursday to spark the Abilene Christian University freshman from Muleshoe to runner-up after the opening day of the NCAA Division II track and field championships.
Withrow won the heptathlon high jump at 5-8.5 to move from fourth to first place with 1,809 points, and she held the lead at 2,361 despite only 33-11.25 in the shot put.
Her 200 time of 25.73 was third fastest here Thursday, leaving her with 3,182 points. She trails the leader, Adams State junior TiaNiecia Mosley, who won the 200 in 24.61 and finished with 3,202 points.
"I'm only 20 points behind," Withrow said. "Hopefully, the long jump and javelin will be good for me tomorrow, and I've been working hard on the 800 (the last of seven events)."
Withrow recently won the Lone Star Conference title with 5,042 points.
Both ACU teams are hoping to improve on runner-up finishes at the 2006 NCAA Division II indoor meet. The men are defending champions at the outdoor meet, and the women last won an outdoor title here in 1999.
The ACU men scored three points Thursday. Yevgen Pashchenko placed seventh in the long jump (24-5.5), and Phillip Birgen ran 30:55.91 for eighth in the 10,000.
Coach Don D. Hood's leading qualifiers included both sprint relay teams, steeplechase favorites Trina Cox and Nicodemus Naimadu, and distance runner Olha Kryv'yak.
Kryv'yak had the fastest time in the 3,000 with 10:04.71, and she also advanced in the 1,500 at 4:51.68.
Cox, the fastest female steeplechaser in NCAA Division II history, easily qualified with 11:03.17 (well off her personal best of 10:05.19 in winning the Penn Relays). Naimadu, who matched Cox with wins at the Texas and Penn Relays, ran 9:18.51.
In the 400 relay events, the women ran 45.45 (behind Lincoln's 45.08), and the men had the third best time (40.24) with St. Augustine's posting the best time of the season with 39.91.
Other qualifiers Thursday for the women were Kim Prather and Jessica Hunt in the 100, Keva Wilkins and Azraa Rounds in the 400, and Shauna-Kaye Thompson in the 400 hurdles.
For the men, advancing past Thursday's preliminaries were Marvin Bien-Aime in the 100 and Jordan Johnson and Johnny Jacobs in the 400.
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