March 5, 2010

Hively earns All-American honors at indoor nationals

Johnson City, Tn. --- University of Rio Grande senior race walker Kyle Hively earned NAIA All-American honors in the men's 3,000-meter race walk on Friday afternoon at the NAIA Indoor National Championships at the Mini Dome in Johnson City, TN. 

Hively, a Vinton, OH native, performed exceptionally well in finishing in fourth place, covering the distance in 13:51.99. He trimmed over a minute off his best time this season. He was less than 1.5 seconds behind third place finisher Kris Shear of Cornerstone (13:50.51). Hively's effort produced four points for Rio Grande. There were 12 competitors in the event. Mike Mannozzi of Notre Dame College (OH) was the individual champion (13:19.50). 

This was the second straight year for Hively in the 3,000-meter race walk at the national indoor meet. He was ranked 5^th overall heading into the meet. His initial qualifying time was 15:26.83 at the Mike Hout Invitational at Cedarville in mid-January. He bettered that effort at the University of Findlay in late January at 15:05.30. 

Hively finished 10^th in the NAIA indoor meet last year with a time of 14:23.27. 

Senior sprinter Chris Woodfork (Chillicothe, OH) came up short of qualifying for the finals of the men's 200-meter dash on Friday. Woodfork posted a time of 22.26 in the pre-lims, which placed him 22^nd (out of 24). Despite not advancing to the finals, Woodfork bettered his qualifying time of 22.51. He entered the competition ranked 19^th.

Hively, Woodfork and the rest of the RedStorm will now get ready for the outdoor season, which begins March 19-20 at the Wake Forest Open.