JOHNSON CITY, TENN. – Iowa Wesleyan College sprinters Nigel Talton (Fr.-Fort Valley, Ga.) and Xavier Shields (Fr.-St. Albans, N.Y.) completed their competition at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships on Friday in the preliminaries of the 60-meter dash event.
Both Talton and Shields were unable to qualify for the final round on Saturday, finishing in the bottom half of the field of 32 runners competing. Talton ran a time of 6.99 seconds in his prelimary race, while Shields timed in at 7.06 in the preliminaries. Talton finished 21st of the 32 sprinters, while Shields checked in 26th.
Both were making their first appearances at the national championships. Talton and Shields both qualified for nationals by meeting the NAIA ‘B’ qualifying standard during the indoor season.
Twelve sprinters advanced to the finals of the 60-meter dash, which will be held on Saturday. The national championships began Thursday and run through Saturday and are taking place at the Memorial Center in Johnson City, Tenn., on the campus of East Tennessee State University.
Talton and Shields are the first two IWC track and field athletes to qualify for national competition since 2007, when Floyd Turner qualified for the NAIA indoor and outdoor national championships and completed a run of four straight championships in the discus in the outdoor season.
For more information regarding the IWC track programs or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
NAIA Indoor National Championships Results
