Metzler, Votapka compete in NAIA nationals

Fallbrook High School graduates Christina Metzler and Lane Votapka competed for Point Loma Nazarene University in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics track and field national meet May 24-26 at Fresno Pacific University.

Metzler competed in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and the women’s 4x400 relay while Votapka represented Point Loma in the men’s pole vault.

Metzler’s hurdles time of 65.22 seconds in her preliminary heat May 24 was one of the top 18 times in the preliminaries, advancing her to the semifinals. Her time of 64.59 seconds in the semifinals May 25 placed 14th. The top nine hurdlers in the semifinals advanced to the finals the following day.

The relay teams have preliminary heats followed by the finals. Point Loma’s 4x400 relay time of 3:56.61 wasn’t fast enough to advance to the finals, but Metzler anchored the relay with a split of 57.3 seconds, her fastest split of the year. “It was substantial,” said Point Loma Nazarene University head track and field coach Jerry Arvin. “I think she had her best race at the end of the year.”

Metzler also qualified for the NAIA nationals in the 4x800 relay, but she went to Fresno as an alternate in that race rather than compete in three events at the nationals.

Metzler, who was a junior during the 2007 track and field season, missed the fall 2006 college cross-country season as she spent the fall on a medical mission in an Indonesian hospital. “Just highly motivated. She’s another great young person,” Arvin said.

Votapka, a sophomore, didn’t advance to the semifinals in his first trip to the NAIA nationals. Twice he vaulted over the bar but knocked it down on his descent. “He just didn’t have a good day,” Arvin said. “It was one of those things.”

Arvin is pleased with the off-field performance of his Fallbrook athletes as well as with their on-field results. “They show a lot of leadership with the younger kids,” he said. “We just love having them here.”

Arvin cited their love of the sport and their academic and spiritual commitments. “They’re the type of kids I want on my team,” he said. “They just take what they do seriously.”