College Track & Field News – Guilford’s Smith Takes Second in 60 Meters at NCAA Championships

GRINNELL, Iowa – Guilford College sophomore Johnathan Smith (Conyers, Ga./Salem) placed second in the 60-meter dash finals at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships at Grinnell College.

Smith completed the race in 6.80 seconds, just behind Colby College junior Dominique Kone, who broke Smith’s facility record with a 6.75. Kone, who placed eighth in last year’s 60-meter final, entered the meet with the fastest Division III time in the country (6.80).

Smith earned eight points in the team standings, which put Guilford in a share of 23rd place among 60 scoring teams.

Smith edged Kone by two-hundredths of a second Friday in a qualifying heat. His school-record 6.76 broke the Charles Benson Bear Recreation and Athletic Center field house mark of 6.81 seconds, set by McMurry University’s Kenneth Turner earlier this year. Turner was third in Saturday’s final in 6.82 seconds.

Each of Saturday’s eight finalists earned All-America recognition from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association. Smith is Guilford’s first indoor track and field All-American. He was a two-time All-American at the 2011 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships, with a second-place finish in the 200 and a sixth-place in the 100.

Smith and the rest of interim coach Danny Cash’s Quakers now shift their focus to the outdoor season, which resumes March 23-24 at the Wake Forest Open.