PITTSBURG — The Allen Community College track and field team has once again out-performed expectations at the NJCAA Indoor National Championships.
Coming into the national meet in Pittsburg, the Red Devils were projected to finish 20th on the women’s side and 16th on the men’s. Instead, both Allen teams finished 11th overall.
“It was really a great meet for the men and women,” Allen coach Vince DeGrado said. “All and all, considering we aren’t a fully operational track program, we are just in a few events.”
The women’s team was largely carried by an outstanding performance from sophomore distance-specialist Kaitlyn Shoemaker.
Shoemaker won an individual national championship in the 5,000-meter run with a 17:30.01. Freshman Abby Steinhauser finished eighth in the same race with a 18:46.40, a personal-best for her.
Later on Friday, Shoemaker laced them up again and ran in the 3,000-meter run. The Missouri Western State University commitment finished as the runner up with a 10:13.57, which also earned her All-American status for that event too.
“What can you say? It was expected in the 5K and the 3K was impressive because it wasn’t as expected there,” DeGrado said. “The 5K was over after a mile and a half, she led the entire thing.”
DeGrado says that “barring injury, illness or getting hit by anything, she win the 10,000 meters at the Outdoor National Championships.” That will make Shoemaker the most decorated track athlete on the female side in school history.
Shoemaker added to the team’s point total by combining with Hannah Johnson, Maria Puente and Vicky Ibarra to place fifth in the 4×800-meter relay. They set a new school record with a 9:44.11.
Puente and Johnson joined forces again with Keshema Fleming and Kristina Silvers to take ninth in the distance medley relay.
On the men’s side, it was a much more balanced effort to earn the 11th-place finish.
“It was different people stepping up for the men,” DeGrado said. “It wasn’t like one girl scoring all the points, it was a team effort.”
Ka’ven Berry was the top finisher for the Red Devils with a third-place showing to earn All-American honors in the 600-meters.
Berry broke the school-record in the preliminaries with a 1:19.64 and then broke it again with a 1:18.75 in the finals.
“Ka’ven has run that race three times and set a new school record each time,” DeGrado said.
Anthony Glasgow, Carlton Tarpley, Ryan Yarde and Philip Lagemann combined to take fourth in the distance medley relay. They finished with a 10:18.04.
