Scales Finishes Second At NCAA Indoor

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Mardy Scales' best performance this season wasn't quite enough to capture his first NCAA Indoor National Title, but the Blue Raider senior standout did put together a silver-medal finish in the 60-meter dash Saturday at the University of Arkansas.

Scales ran a season-best 6.61 in the 60-meter, finishing two-one hundreths of a second off the championship pace set by Oklahoma's DaBryan Blanton (6.59).

"First I want to thank the Lord for giving me the strength to do what I did," Scales said. "I ran a pretty good race, the best I have ran this year, but I still feel like I could have done better."

Scales won his third straight NCAA Indoor All-American honor, fifth overall, and provided the Middle Tennessee Track program with its 71st All-American honor under coach Dean Hayes.

The second-place finish in the 60-meter also was a benchmark for Scales in regard to NCAA Indoor competition. Scales, who won the NCAA national championship in the 100-meter in 2003, finished eighth in the 60 as a sophomore, seventh as a junior and shot up to second as a senior.

"I'm running against the top people in the country so I knew it was going to take an extra effort," Scales said. "I'm pretty pleased because I continued to make progress from the previous two seasons."

Assistant track coach Roger Kerr said Scales growth and maturity in the Indoor event provided him with an opportunity to win his second national championship as a Blue Raider.

"At the end of the Indoor season last year Mardy was down, but he has grown a lot," Kerr said. "This is good. He walks away from here with his head held high, and he should. He was beaten by two one-hundreths of a second and you know how close that is. I'm very happy for him."

NCAA Division I 2004 Indoor Championship
60-meter dash

1. DaBryan Blanton Oklahoma 6.59
2. Mardy Scales Middle Tennessee 6.61
3. Mark Burns Auburn 6.61
4. Tyson Gay Arkansas 6.63
5. Jabari Fields Texas Christian 6.70
6. John Woods Colorado State 6.71
7. Sean Lambert Tennessee 6.72
8. Johnie Drake Central Michigan 6.72

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