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Track and Field
Laske, Olson, Esler among top 16 at NCAA championships
Three UB student-athletes finished among the top 16 in the nation at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, held over the weekend in Mike A. Myers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin..
Allison Laske placed 13th in the 800-meter run, Laura Olson placed 15th in the pole vault and Steve Esler finished 16th in the decathlon.
It was the first time in UB history that the university sent three student-athletes to the NCAA championships.
Laske, making her first-ever NCAA championships appearance, finished 13th in the preliminaries of the 800-meters in 2:06.73, falling just short of the finals qualifying time of 2:06.51. She was fifth in her heat—three of the nine finalists were in Laske's heat—and 13th overall among 28 competitors.
"Allison is really disappointed right now, but she ran such an unbelievable race," said head coach Vicki Mitchell. "She started moving up in the final 200 meters and she was in position with the top four going into the final lap. She was at one point in second place with the four that finished side by side, but just couldn't hold on. She's disappointed but she can't have any regrets. She ran faster than the winner of the NCAA indoor championships this spring. Now, she has a week and a half of recovery and then we hope she makes the (Olympic) trials. She has to realize the talent level of the field she was in. It was one of the strongest 800-meter fields in the NCAAs in recent years. I had several coaches come up to me after the race and comment on what a terrific job Allison did. It's awesome to see a senior blossom the way Allison has this year."
Laske's top time in the 800-meters (2:04.81 at the Cardinal Invite at Stanford University on May 1) has provisionally qualified her for the United States Olympic Trials in July.
Olson placed 15th in the pole vault, going out at 12-9 and ending a career that saw her qualify three times for NCAA competition—the most by a UB female athlete at the Division I level. Previously, Olson had finished 14th in March at the NCAA indoor championships and 13th at last year's outdoor competition.
"I'm sure Laura is very disappointed that she didn't advance further in the competition, but that doesn't take away from all of her tremendous accomplishments during her career," said Mitchell. Olson had set a new school record by clearing 13-5.75" at the NCAA regionals at the University of Florida two weekends ago.
Esler, in his first-ever NCAA championships appearance, was 17th in the decathlon after the first day of competition and then moved up to 16th with a solid performance in the final five events. Esler, who was ranked 24th in the nation coming into the event, missed his career-best total points by just 42, finishing with a total of 7,264 points in the event. He had the second-best mark in the high jump (6-6.75) in the 25-man competition, and he had season-best marks in the 100-meter dash (11.40), 1,500-meter run (4:37.88), long jump (22-1) and shot put (47-00.25).