Clay Leads Oilers At National Championship

The University of Findlay men's and women's outdoor track and field teams completed the second day of competition at the 2011 NCAA Division II National Championship on Friday, May 27 in Turlock, California.

On the men's side, Nathaniel Kurtz earned All-American honors after placing eighth in the shot put at 56'07.5 while Darren Bass was 15th in the same event with a toss of 51'00.

Cory Vales also earned All-American honors by taking eighth in the high jump with a mark of 6'10.75.

The Oilers 4x400-meter relay team of John Guagenti, Curtis Smithey, Simon Bernard and Greg Schaible qualified for the finals after taking seventh in their event with a time of 3:14.39.

On the women's side, Raven Clay took second in the opening round of the 100-meter hurdles after crossing the finish line in 13.26 to qualify for the finals and set a new school record.

She also teamed with Lindsey Schmitmeyer, Catherine Wiemers and Christine Zimmermann to reach the finals in the 4x400-meter relay after finishing fifth with a time of 3:46.44.

Schmitmeyer qualified for the finals in the 800-meter run as well after finishing eighth in the preliminary round of the event with a time of 2:11.12.

The event will conclude tomorrow.