Simmons wins men’s 200-meter dash for Clayton State at Findlay Indoor Classic
11 school records, five Top 3 finishes highlight Laker weekend

FINDLAY, Ohio --- JANUARY 26-27, 2007 --- The Clayton State Laker men’s and women’s track and field teams returned to action over the weekend in their indoor season, making the long trip north for the Findlay Indoor Classic. Despite the short notice in the schedule and the long distance, both teams came away with some pretty solid results.

Combined, the two teams finished with 11 school records and five Top 3 finishes in the meet. There were five school records set on the men’s side, and six set for the women.

The most notable performances were in the men’s meet by Eric Simmons and Ahmad Rolle.

Simmons won the men’s 200-meter dash in a time of 22.23 seconds, and just missed NCAA provisional qualifying time by .03 seconds. Simmons also finished fifth in the men’s 800-meter run with a school-record time of 1:57.26. Rolle, meanwhile, had second place finishes in both the men’s long jump and triple jump. He finished second in the long jump with a distance of 22-9 feet, and second in the triple jump in 47-11 feet, and that was an NCAA provisional qualifying distance.

In addition to Simmons and Rolle, the 4x400-meter men’s relay team of Rolle, Simmons, Nathan Hytower and Lawrence DeShields finished sixth with a time of 3.28.04. Those setting school records were Steve Weston in the men’s 600-meter run (1:38.80), Peter Gajda in the men’s 1,000-meter run (2:46.98) and DeShields in the men’s 55-meter hurdles (7.82 seconds).

For the Laker women, Keisha Etienne and Natasha Gass each came away with two school records. Gass had the highest finish of the two with a 10^th-place finish in the women’s triple jump with a distance of 34-5 feet, and she also set the school record in the long jump with a distance of 15-3.5 feet. Etienne’s school records came in the women’s 400-meter dash (1.01.01) and the women’s 55-meter hurdles (9.27).

The women’s distance medley relay team of Etienne, Angela Cobb, Allison Kreutzer and Terrica Hamilton placed second overall with a time of 12:30.65. Kreutzer also finished third in the women’s mile run in 5:15.23, and Cobb placed seventh in 5:18.42.

Both Clayton State teams are in action this Saturday (Feb. 3) at the Tiger Invitational at Sewanee.