McMurry produces six All-Americans -- Gavin Bass, Tiana Alexander, Paul Davis, Kevin Cunningham, Kenneth Turner, 4x400-meter relay team -- at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday and Saturday in Grinnell, Iowa.

Day 1:

GRINNELL, Iowa – In the words of legendary rock band Van Halen:  “Might as well jump!”.

For McMurry University, Day 1 at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships produced two All-Americans and both came in the long jump event.

In the men's competition, senior Gavan Bass (Fairfield, Texas/Fairfield H.S.) picked up his third-consecutive All-America award in the indoor long jump, finishing fifth in the competition. Bass landed his best jump on his very first effort of the day, with a leap of 23' 4 ¾”.

Over the course of his McMurry career, Bass now has four indoor All-America recognitions (also placing in the indoor 55 meters in 2010), to go along with three outdoor All-American awards (two with relays).

Freshman Tiana Alexander (Killeen, Texas/Ellison H.S.) brought home her team's first accolades of the day, finishing sixth in the women's long jump to earn her first collegiate All-America honors in the morning.

Alexander's leap of 18' 5” on her second effort of the finals propelled her to all-American status. Alexander advanced to the finals with a preliminary jump of 17' 11” in the first flight of competitors. She fouled on her first try in the final round before hitting her big leap.

McMurry's only other female athlete to qualify for the NCAA meet – sophomore Shanita Coleman (Houston, Texas/Stratford H.S.) – was also in the long jump event, but did not far as well.  Coleman's best attempt of 17' 4 ¼” was good for 13th place overall and did not allow her to reach the finals.

In preliminary races, freshman Junior Saint Preux (Orlando, Fla./Olympia H.S.) was disqualified in the 60-meter hurdles after entering the event with nation's fifth-best qualifying time. Saint Preux was cited for a violation when judges ruled his trail leg was outside his lane on the last three hurdles, resulting in the DQ.

McMurry's men's squad guaranteed itself of at least two more All-Americans in Saturday's finale with two runners – Kenneth Turner and Kevin Cunningham - advancing to the finals in their events.

Turner (Snyder, Texas/Snyder H.S.), a junior, won his heat of the 60-meter dash in a school-record time of 6.80 seconds. Turner, who broke his own War Hawk mark in the event, enters tomorrow's finals with the third-fastest time of the meet in the 60 meters.

Cunningham (Brownwood, Texas/Brownwood H.S), a senior, blazed to the top preliminary time in the 400 meters, covering the course in just 48.22 seconds to reach the finals. Cunningham's time also bested his own school record in the event by 33/100ths of a second.

In addition to Turner and Cunningham competing on Saturday, McMurry will also have Paul Davis in the shot put and the 4x400 meter relay team in action.

Day 2:

GRINNELL, Iowa – McMurry University's men's team finished in seventh place at the 2012 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships, which came to a close on Saturday. The McM women's squad was tied for 44th.

The War Hawk men started the day in 14th place after Day 1 of the competition on Friday and had four events on Saturday. The McMurry women had two competitors, both on Friday.

In all, McMurry brought home a total of six All-American awards (one women's and five men's) out of its eight total entries in the championships.

On Saturday in the men's shot put, sophomore Paul Davis (Lubbock, Texas/Coronado H.S.) earned his second-consecutive indoor All-American award with a fourth place finish. Davis, who entered the event with the nation's second-best qualifying mark, hit a toss of 57' 7” on his second attempt of the day. Davis fouled on four of his six total attempts between prelims and finals.

Shot put winner David Pless of Bates set an NCAA III indoor national record with a winning toss of 60' 6 ½”.

In the men's 400 meters, senior Kevin Cunningham (Brownwood, Texas/Brownwood H.S.) missed out on a national championship by 2/1000ths of a second to North Central College's Dan Benton. Both men were given credit for a time 48.01 seconds, but the video put Benton at 48.004 seconds and Cunningham at 48.006 seconds to decide the title.

To put that into perspective, the distance between Benton and Cunningham was more than 150 times faster than the average blink of an eye.

Cunningham's finish in the 400 shaved better than 3/10ths of a second off of his school record (previously 48.45) set yesterday in the preliminaries. It was also Cunningham's third-consecutive all-America finish for the indoor 400 in his career as a War Hawk.

In the men's 60 meter dash, junior speedster Kenneth Turner  (Snyder, Texas/Snyder H.S.) picked up his second-straight All-American award in the event with a third place finish. Turner crossed the line at 6.82 seconds.

McMurry's 4x400 relay team turned in the War Hawks' final All-American performance with a seventh place finish in a time of 3:20.68.  The quartet was comprised of Ben Coker (Odessa, Texas/Permian H.S.), Trevon Odom (Bryan, Texas/Bryan H.S.), Marcus Thompson (McGregor, Texas/McGregor H.S.) and Cunningham.

-Courtesy McMurry University Sports Information Department