Wyoming's Mannon, Harvard's Gyorffy NCAA Leaders

Wyoming thrower Kevin Mannon and Harvard high jumper Dora Gyorffy wasted no time in establishing themselves as the competitors to beat in their respective events as the collegiate indoor track season got underway last month. Mannon heaved a personal best of 72-6.50 (22.11) in the 35-pound weight throw at the Wyoming Earlybird while Gyorffy cleared 6-2.75 (1.90) at the Harvard-Boston College dual meet.

Mannon's mark currently puts him on top of this year's NCAA Division 1 men's indoor track performance list and qualifies him for the NCAAs. Mannon is now ninth on the all-time collegiate list and second all-time among American collegians. "We had an outstanding performance in the men's 35-pound weight throw. I feel like that is our strongest event, one that can have some NCAA implications for us," Wyoming head cross coach Larry Judge said. "Kevin Mannon's throw was only four inches off the American Collegiate record."

Along with Mannon, who is a senior, there are already eight qualifiers in the weight throw, including two other NCAA Wyoming throwers. The other qualifiers are Southern Methodist sophomore Libor Charfreitag (20.65), Wyoming sophomore Derek Woodske (20.26), Illinois State junior Tom Barrett (20.13), Southern Methodist junior Xavier Tison (19.86), Kentucky junior Matt Kavanagh (19.70), Wyoming sophomore Jason Gervais (19.62) and Kansas State sophomore Tamel Sisney (19.46).

Meanwhile Gyorffy, who finished third at last year's NCAA outdoor championships, is on top of the NCAA Division 1 women's indoor track performance list at this point in the season, and the Harvard sophomore has also earned a berth to the NCAAs.

"I was very happy when I made the qualifying mark for NCAAs," Gyorffy said. "It was a great start for my season. However, I did feel that I could do it because my practices have been going really well during the fall."

Gyorffy said that continued good practices would be the key to how she performs in the national meet. "The most important thing for me to have success in the meet will be a good preparation when I can work hard on my technique," she said. "Naturally being focused in the meet will be also very important."

Three other competitors have also qualified for the high jump in the NCAAs. They are Connecticut sophomore Tamika Toppin (1.79), who qualified last week, Arkansas State sophomore Elena Semyonova (1.78) and Buffalo senior Shellyan Hamilton (1.77).

The NCAA indoor championship will be held March 5-6 in Indianapolis. The official site for the NCAA (http://www.ncaa.org) has a complete list of all qualifiers for the NCAA meets in all three divisions.

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