USU sends athletes to NCAA meet
Senior weight thrower James Parker will make his second straight appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships today. Sophomore Maurice Jenkins will join him to round out the USU contingent in Fayetteville, Ark.
Parker’s toss of 70 feet and 9.25 inches at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships Feb. 23 was good enough to give him the seventh-best qualifying toss in the nation. That’s one place lower than the mark he had last year at the Indoor Championships.
That year, he tossed the weight 67 feet, 7.5 inches for sixth place at Fayetteville.
Jenkins, from Centerville, is making his first appearance at nationals. He needed a height of 17 feet, 5.5 inches to qualify in the pole vault. The mark, made in last week’s Last Chance Meet in Pocatello, Idaho, was the seventh best in the country
Jenkins and Parker differ a lot in their resumes. Jenkins is the Big West outdoor champion in pole vault, while Parker, who hails from Layton, is a six-time all-American, five-time MPSF champion and a six-time Big West champion (hammer throw three times, discus twice and shot put once).
Parker’s sixth place at Fayetteville was the USU men’s best individual finish since 1978. Last year, Lance Thurston placed 16th in the high jump and Marcus Morgan competed in the mile. The best women’s individual finish came from Alisa Nicodemus, who placed third in the mile in 1993.
This is the final indoor competition of the year for USU. The Aggies start their outdoor season at San Luis Obispo, Calif., for the Cal Poly Meet March 17. USU’s only outdoor home meet, the Mark Faldmo Open, will be held April 21.