Voss, Robertson Flourish at National Meet
May 21, 2009
Dave Voss ran a season best time of 54.36 in the prelims of the 400 meter intermediate hurdles on Thursday to advance to Friday's semifinal at the 2009 NAIA Track & Field National Championships in Edwardsville, Illinois.
Voss was just two one-hundredths of a second off his career best mark of 54.34, set last year at the national meet. He enters the semifinals ranked No. 12 out of 16 competitors.
In the final race of the day involving a Taylor athlete, Tom Robertson burned up the track as he grabbed the final qualifying spot for Saturday's steeplechase final with a career best time of 9:20.59. The junior from Souderton, Pennsylvania, edged out his closest competitor by just three one-hundredths of a second to secure the spot in the finals.
The 4 x 800 meter relay team of Andy Marston, Brian Tencher, Nate Kirsch, and Isaac Bryan shaved more than five seconds off their previous season best time, but finished 10th of 20 teams and just narrowly missed the finals with a time of 7:39.48.
Sophomore Cory Anderson clocked a 15.42 in the prelims of the 110 meter high hurdles, but missed the semifinals by just four places.
Competitors for Taylor on Friday at the NAIA National Championships will include Voss in the 400 meter hurdles (5:35 pm CST) and the 4 x 400 relay team (8:35 pm CST) in semifinal action. Sophomore Scott Gill will attempt to uphold his No. 1 ranking in the men's long jump beginning at 1:00 pm CST.