MANKATO, Minn. – March 14-15, 2008 – On Thursday evening, Clayton State junior Ahmad Rolle was honored as the NCAA Division II South Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year. On Saturday afternoon, he backed up the award by finishing fourth in the triple jump competition at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships at Minnesota State-Mankato.

The junior from Nassau, Bahamas had the best showing of Clayton State’s contingent of four meet qualifiers. Rolle bettered his school record by 11 inches, leaping 49-7¼ on his second jump of the triple jump preliminaries. The mark stood in the finals to lock up fourth place and become Clayton State’s first field athlete to earn All-American honors and the eighth track and field athlete to earn the honor since 2002.

"I’m quite proud of Ahmad’s efforts today," said Clayton State head coach Mike Mead. "Anytime you get your best mark or time at a national meet is special. Ahmad represented us well, as did our other athletes in the meet. I already cannot wait to see what he does during outdoor season."

Saturday also saw senior Allison Kreutzer run in the finals of the women’s 5,000-meter run. The four-time Division II All-American and 2008 South Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year came up short of her goal in earning indoor All-American honors, placing 12th in the 5,000-meter race in 17:33.29. 

Her time was about six seconds off her indoor personal best for the event and less than nine seconds from eighth place that earned All-American honors.

"Allison ran a good race and even led two laps near the first mile, but she did not have that last gear when she needed it late in the race," Mead said. "Still, not bad for someone coming off an injury from the fall. This just sets her up for another great outdoor season."

On Friday, Laker junior Jon Taylor competed in her first NCAA meet in the women’s long jump.  The Albany, Ga., native scratched on her first two attempts, and then managed a jump of 16-7 that was far off her best of 18-8 set last month. Taylor finished the competition placing 14th in the event.

Meantime, senior Eric Simmons continued to have bad luck at the NCAA’s. Simmons got spiked on the second lap of his 400-meter dash preliminary race and finished with a 49.27 that placed him 11th and kept him out of the final for his third consecutive appearance at the indoor championships.

"I feel for Jon and Eric," Mead said. "I understand what they are going through since I experienced similar frustrations during my college days at the NCAA’s. I hope the results and experiences from this meet will provide the motivation to qualify for outdoor nationals and have another crack at making All-American."

Both Laker teams will be training until March 28-29 when they open their 12th outdoor season.  Both squads will compete at Emory University in the Emory Classic.