Curbelo earns spot in finals of 400m; Tillman misses cut by .01 in 100m

Photos by: Lance Franey

CLAREMONT, Calif. – Sophomore Kevin Curbelo and junior Kimble Tillman debuted in their 2012 NCAA Div. III National Championships today but only Curbelo walked away with a chance to earn All-American honors for the second straight year as Tillman missed the cut in the 100m by one hundredth of a second.

Curbelo who is seeking his second straight All-American honor, after he earned this recognition last year as a freshman in the 400m kept his title hopes a live as he ran a 48.02 finishing second in his heat and third overall in the field helping him advance to tomorrow's final with the NCAA Championships title in his sites.

Tillman on the other hand fell upon unfortunate times in his first NCAA Championship debut running a 10.66 in the 100m finishing in tenth place one hundredth of a second behind the ninth place finisher who ran a 10.65 forcing his Championship run to stop short. 

Whittier now has two competitors competing for NCAA Div. III Championships tomorrow including junior Alyssa Sialaris who already is an All-American in the discus but looks to earn this recognition once again in both the shot put and javelin.  The other is Curbelo who still seeks his second straight All-American honor in the 400m and looks poised to make a deep run in the Championships.

The event schedule for tomorrow is as follows:

1:00pm – Women's Shot put

3:45pm – Women's Javelin

3:50pm – Men's 400 meters

Kevin Curbelo (400m)

Kimble Tillman (100m)