Westmont freshman Megan Wong earned All-American honors by finishing third in the 3,000-meter race walk Friday at the NAIA Indoor National Track & Field Championships, in Johnson City, Tenn. Her time of 16:51.88 was more than 43 seconds better than her previous best mark of 17:35.5.
“Megan’s goal was to break 17 minutes and to finish in third or better,” said Warriors head coach Russell Smelley. “She entered ranked as the fourth fastest competitor. About the three-quarter mile mark (1,200 meters), she moved into third place and continued to create a separation between herself and the fourth-place runner.”
Meanwhile, sophomore Kasey Kearin posted a mark of 17 feet 6.5 inches in the long jump, finishing 16th out of 23 competitors. Kearin will compete Saturday in the triple jump.
Also competing for the women’s team was senior Lorin Milotta in the 60-meter hurdles. With the 14th best time (9.29), Milotta missed qualifying for the semifinals by two places and .04 seconds.
On the men‘s side, senior Robby Cherry qualified for the finals of the 3,000-meter run by finishing with a time of 8:44.17 in the second heat of the preliminaries. Senior Aaron Megazzi, who ran in the slower first heat, did not qualify for Saturday’s finals. Megazzi, who earned All-American honors in this same event two years ago, placed eighth in the slower first heat with a time of 8:50.27.
Also competing for the men was junior Daniel Lew in the 3,000-meter walk race; he finished in 12th place with a time of 16:31.22. Senior Ryan Kraft placed 17th in the preliminaries of the 600-meter
run with a time of 1:24.72.
Ron Smith is Westmont College‘s sports information director.