Men's Track and Field | 3/12/2021 3:11:00 PM
March 12, 2021-Despite suffering a hamstring injury on his first attempt of the long jump on Thursday, Emporia State's
Tanner Raubenstine was able to earn All-American honors in the heptathlon at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships. He competed in all seven events of the heptathlon in Birmingham, Ala. and was able to finish in eighth place.
The senior from Salina, Kan. started the competition on Thursday by winning the 60m in a time of 6.95 to earn 900 points and 14 point lead after the first event. On his first attempt of the long jump he suffered a hamstring injury and was able to go 4.75m (15-7) before passing the final two attempts. He was able to get a mark of 6.45m (21-2) using just his upper body to get a mark on his first attempt of the shot put. He gave one attempt at the opening height of the high jump before passing the rest of his attempts.
He had to start each of the three events on Friday in order to record a finish. He lined up for the 60m hurdles to start the day but stepped off the track before the first hurdle due to the injury. He made an attempt at the opening height of 3.00m (9-10) but was unable to clear it and passed his remaining attempts. He started, ensuring his All-American placing, but did not finish the 1000m to finish eighth in the heptathlon.
"I'm very proud of him for pushing through to the end," said Emporia State track & field coach Steve Blocker. "He's definitely an ESU-guy. It never crossed our minds to abandon the event. We wanted to finish higher, but things like this happen for a reason. We will pick things back up and bounce back for outdoors."
With Raubenstine's eighth place showing, Emporia State has now scored in 12 straight NCAA Indoor Championship meets. The Hornets have a chance to add to their point total on Saturday afternoon when the 4x400m relay team of
Brandon Rhone,
Guy Ramos,
Hayden Goodpaster and
Carter Cox takes the track at 3:20 pm in the final men's event of the championships.
