WALNUT, Calif. – Back in March, Clayton State's
Kim Larry entered the outdoor track and field season having not competed in the women's high jump in roughly five seasons.
However, she has come more than a long way in a short period of time.
Larry wrapped up an "amazing spring" on Saturday by garnering All-American honors in the women's high jump at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The junior from Tupelo, Miss., who joined the Laker track and field team after finishing basketball season, finished fifth overall in the women's high jump to earn the distinct honor.
Larry cleared 5-feet-8 inches on the high jump to finish fifth, tied with Whitney Hendershot from Slippery Rock, Lynn Mayer from East Stroudsburg and Jennifer Robinson from Emporia State. She finished 1 1/4 inches off the winning height of 5-9 1/4 by Lincoln's Notoya Thompson.
While Larry earned All-American honors in the women's high jump, Clayton State's
Ahmad Rolle missed it by inches in the men's triple jump. The junior from Nassau, Bahamas, finished ninth overall with a distance of 48-05.25 feet, missing eighth place and All-American honors by two inches.
Finally, a distinguished career came to a heart-breaking end for Laker senior
Eric Simmons. Competing in the men's 400-meter dash, the senior from Carrollton, Ga., finished 13th in the preliminaries with a time of 47.90 seconds, four-one hundreths of a second for qualifying for finals.