FERRIS' KAMITRA CARROLL CLAIMS GLIAC ATHLETE OF THE YEAR HONORS
Senior Thrower Honored Following Field Event Performance At League Meet
Ferris State University senior thrower Kamitra Carroll (Flint/Carman-Ainsworth) of the Bulldog women's track and field squad received 2008 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Outdoor Field Event Athlete Of The Year recognition following her performance in last week's (May 1-2) league outdoor championships in University Center, Mich.
Findlay's Kirby Blackley claimed Athlete of the Year honors for the running events while Freshman of the Year accolades went to Ashland's Tara Cooper and Grand Valley State's Jerry Baltes received Coach of the Year recognition in voting by the league's head coaches following the conclusion of the competition.
Carroll won the shot put (48-4) and produced a fourth-place finish in the hammer throw (177-4) as the Bulldogs placed fourth overall in the women's standings with 89 points at the meet hosted by Saginaw Valley State University. She tallied personal career-best efforts in both events. Her first-place finish in the shot put broke her own school record in the event while her performance in the hammer throw ranks as the second-best all-time outdoor mark in Bulldog history.
Presently, Carroll has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division II National Outdoor Track and Field Championships with the nation's fifth-best throw to date in the shot put and is an automatic qualifier in the hammer throw with the country's ninth-best toss this campaign. The national meet will take place May 22-25 in Pomona, Calif. The listing of national meet participants will be announced next week.
Carroll earned All-America accolades earlier this year in the women's shot put on the final day of action (March 15) at the NCAA Division II National Indoor Track and Field Championships in Mankato, Minn. She took seventh place in the event at the national indoor meet with a toss of 46-6.
Carroll previously claimed 2007 NCAA-II Indoor All-America kudos in both the weight throw and shot put following her performances at the national indoor meet last year (3/9-10) in Boston, Mass. She claimed national runner-up honors in the weight throw last year during the opening day of action (3/9) with a best toss of 59-4 in the event. Carroll, who was FSU's lone participant a year ago in the NCAA-II Indoor Championships, then placed sixth overall in the shot put with a top toss of 46-5.50 on the final day (3/10).
In 2006, Carroll took ninth place overall among 18 throwers in the women's shot put at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships (May 26-27) on Emporia State's (Kan.) Zola Witten Track inside Fran Welch Stadium at Emporia, Kan. Her best toss of 46-4.75 fell one spot short of earning All-America accolades. During the 2005-06 season, Carroll was also named the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region Women's Indoor Field Event Athlete Of The Year as announced by the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). She placed 11th overall in the shot put competition at the national indoor meet in 2006 with a toss of 45-2.50 in the final round of the event at Boston's Reggie Lewis Center.
Selected members of the 2007-08 Bulldog track and field team are next slated to compete in the North Central (Ill.) Invitational Friday and Saturday, May 9-10, at Naperville, Ill. The meet starts Friday at 4 p.m. (CDT).
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