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By DAVID WOLMAN
Traveler Sports Editor

Cowley College track and field coach Mark Phillips has a hard time understanding, at least on paper, why his team never performs well at the KU Indoor Classic.

"Decent competition. It's a decent facility. We should do well and we never do," Phillips said.

No need for the 'why's' this time.

Cowley continued its strong start to the season, hitting national meet qualifying marks in 17 individual and three relay events on Saturday in one of the most successful early-season meets in program history.

The Tigers competed against 22 other teams, ranging from NCAA Division I and II schools to NAIA and junior college schools in Lawrence.

"I was very pleased with our results at this meet because we competed quite well with everybody else," Phillips said.

Kelsey Poljansek broke her own school record in the shot put for the third straight meet, hitting a third-place mark of 48 feet, 10 3/4 inches. She also inched closer to the school record in the weight throw, recording a second-place distance of 46.75 feet.

"Kelsey Poljansek just keeps tearing up the throws," Phillips said.

Ashley Cronin has now qualified for nationals in three events, two on Saturday -- 1,000-meter run (3:16.45) and distance medley relay team (13:20.27). Cronin qualified for nationals in the 3,000-meter run on Jan. 12. The distance medley relay team, also consisting of Xandria Cash, Jessica McLeod and Jeniffer Cherono, placed third.

McLeod also qualified for nationals in the 800-meter run, finishing in fifth place in a time of 2:27.60. Sasha Oliver (34-9 3/4) qualified in the triple jump.

Cowley's results have mostly been a pleasant surprise to Phillips. He credited his athletes on how well-conditioned they were coming in at the start of the semester.

"Two weeks ago, I thought we maybe didn't come back in very good shape," Phillips said. "Now, I'm starting to think they were more fit than I thought they were when they came back."

Larry Hill and Dakota Price shined on the men's team.

Hill and Price, along with fellow sophomores Mauricio Morales and Gilbert Manzanares, won the men's distance medley race with a national meet qualifying time of 10:49.53.

Hill and Price anchored the 4x400-meter relay team, which placed third with a national qualifying time of 3:22.90.

Hill (1:14.83) and Price (1:15.23) also qualified in the 600-yard run.

"Larry and Dakota, everything we're running them in right now, they're just doing very well," Phillips said. "I knew those two guys were going to be a big part of our success this year as sophomores and they're coming through big time."

Also hitting national qualifying marks for Cowley were David Starnes (pole vault, 14-4), Brett Koehn (5,000-meter run, 15:39.48), Jonathan Cherono (1-mile run, 4:24.46) and Harrison Philp (1,000-meter run, 2:37.91).

Jonathan's performance in the 1-mile run came as a pleasant surprise to Phillips.

"That's not really his event," Phillips said. "We're running him in there for some speed work."

Cowley results:

WOMEN

*Shot put: 3. Poljansek, 48-10 3/4, national qualifier, school record.

*Weight throw: 2. Poljansek, 46 3/4, national qualifier.

*800-meter run: 5. McLeod, 2:27.60, national qualifier; 10. Jeniffer Cherono, 2:32.07.

*1,000-meter run: 10. Cronin, 3:16.45, national qualifier.

*Distance medley: 2. Cowley 'A' (Cronin, Cash, McLeod, Cherono), 13:20.27, national qualifier.

*Triple jump: 5. Oliver, 34-9 3/4, national qualifier.

*1-mile run: 22. Janee Gabbard, 6:00.87; 26. Dawn Zimmerman, 6:43.39.

*3,000-meter run: 9. Christy Buller, 11:54.14.

*Pole vault: 15. Anna German, 8-10 1/4.

*Long jump: 13. Oliver, 14-8 1/2.

MEN

*1-mile run: 5. Jonathan Cherono, 4:24.46, national qualifier; 7. Rolando Vasquez, 4:33.35; 16. Manzanares, 4:45.43.

*600-yard run: 4. Hill, 1:14.82, national qualifier; 7. Price, 1:15.23, national qualifier.

*1,000-meter run: 10. Harrison Philp, 2:37.91, national qualifier.

*5,000-meter run: 3. Koehn, 15:39.48, national qualifier; 6. Justin Cacaro, 16:23.15.

*4x400-meter relay: 3. Cowley (Hill, Price, Deion Ruble, Justin Viewins), 3:22.90, national qualifier.

*Distance medley: 1. Cowley (Morales, Hill, Price, Manzanares), 10:49.53, national qualifier.

*Pole vault: 13. Starnes, 14-4, national qualifier; 15. Colziah Jones, 13-4 1/2.

*60-meter dash: 11. John Kenney, 7.12.

*200-meter dash: 9. Kenney, 22.77; 35. Sean Brown, 24.35; 39. Mark Chaney, 24.76.

*400-meter dash: 15. Ruble, 51.68; 26. Chaney, 53.87; 28. Mark Butler, 54.58.

*800-meter run: 8. Viewins, 2:01.85; 12. Matt Silovsky, 2:03.57; 31. Jerell McCain, 2:19.44.

*4x800-meter relay: 3. Cowley (Morales, Philp, Silovsky, Manzanares), 8:10.30.

*Weight throw: 19. Chip Broaddus, 41-2 1/2; 23. Mitch Hewitt, 32-9.