Valley sprinters DeAngelo Brooks (left) and Tarrence Rhodes both posted NAIA provisional qualifyingtimes in the 55-meter dash during the conference meet. [Click to enlarge]

LAMONI, Iowa -- The Missouri Valley College men's track and field team had 16 entries score in 12 events during the Heart of America Conference Championships at Lamoni, Iowa, Friday and Saturday to put them it in fourth place among nine teams.

In addition, the Vikings' 3,200-meter relay team of senior John Bohl, sophomores Eric Thomas and Adam Lofton, and freshman Cody Knight met the provisional qualifying standard for the NAIA Championships while placing second with a time of 8:01.13 -- 13th in the latest national rankings.

Thomas and Bohl both had strong performances in the middle-distance races. Thomas was third in the 600-meter run (1:24.63) -- just .63 seconds off the provisional mark -- and sixth in the 800 (2:01.27). Bohl was third in the 800 (1:59.64) -- an event in which he had previously qualified and is presently ranked 23rd -- and fifth in the 600 (1:25.48). Knight (2:45.40) and Lofton (2:47.05) were eighth and ninth in the 1,000.

Sophomore Tarrence Rhodes came in second, by a mere .08 seconds to Lindenwood's Mike Rodgers, in the 55-meter dash (6.47 seconds) and was fourth in the 200 (22.88). Senior DeAngelo Brooks was seventh in the 55 (6.56), both he and Rhodes attaining NAIA provisional times.

Highlighting the field events was junior V.J. Payne's third place in the short put (46 feet, 10 inches) and eighth in the weight throw (36-8) and freshman Randy Miller's eighth in the triple jump (43-1.75). Miller, although coming in 12th in the 55 high hurdles (8.37), was a mere .13 seconds off the qualifying standard.

Valley also picked up points in the 1,600 racewalk -- where freshman Kevin Conrey (9:19.41) was fourth and sophomore Jorge Arana (9:33.47) sixth -- distance medley (10:59.65) and 1,600-meter relay (3:39.78).

The Vikings' only winner of the meet was freshman Trista Tanksley in the shot put. Her throw of 41 feet, 1.5 inches gave her an automatic NAIA bid and put her in the top 20. Having already earned a spot at nationals, freshman Sam Narron of Marshall came in second in the high jump (5-1.75).

The closest anyone else came to being added to the nationals squad was a 16-4 long jump from junior Kenyatta Rolle, eight inches shy of the mark, but good for seventh place in the conference. Freshman Jessica Buchanan was sixth in the 3,000 (11:52.09), the 1,600 relay finished third (4:28.21) and the medley relay came in fourth (14:35.02). Sophomore Ashley Charboneau scored in two distance runs, as did freshman Kathleen Novicky in the 600, to help MVC finish sixth in the team standings.

Lindenwood again won swept the titles, the men (226 points) by 46 points over MidAmerica Nazarene and the women (201) topping the Lady Pioneers by 53 points.

The Vikings have two weeks off to prepare for their trip to the NAIA meet at Johnson City, Tenn., on March 4-6.