The Buffalo State men’s and women’s track and field teams had four athletes compete at the
Division III NCAA Indoor Track Championships this past weekend in Naperville, Ill., and
sprinter Sasha Henry made the most out of the opportunity to compete on the national stage.
Henry won a national championship in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.60 seconds. She
became just the second woman to win a national championship in school history.
“I feel like I’m on top of the world,” Henry said of her feat. “It just feels so good; I can’t even
explain it right now.”
Teammate Jazmin Dunham added a third-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles to claim individual
All-America status for the second straight year.
The efforts of Henry and Dunham earned the women’s team a tie for ninth place out of 64 teams,
good for the best team finish at nationals in program history.
Before winning a national championship in the 60-meter dash, Henry broke a school and
Division III Championship record in the preliminary race with a time of 7.54 seconds.
The school record was previously set in 2011 by Erica Johnson, who was the only other woman
to win a national championship at Buffalo State. Johnson won her championship that same year.
Henry ran the nation’s fastest time to that point in the 60-meter dash this season at the SUNYAC
championships (7.63), landing her the No. 1 seed heading into nationals.
Henry has done all the right things to give her the best opportunity to be successful.
“She’s just a very coachable person and does everything she’s supposed to do as far as how she
trains and really focuses on the little things that are going to make her better,” assistant coach
Dustin Dimit, said.
Competing at the Championships as the No. 1 seed in the 60-meter dash, Henry was nervous but
determined not to leave empty-handed. Henry admitted to being scared at the start, but as the No.
1 seed, she knew everyone else was scared of her.
Her determination also stemmed from last year’s Championships, when she did leave empty-
handed.
“I was so hungry for this championship,” Henry said. “Last year I went and I was third going in
and I didn’t make the finals and I couldn’t believe that. So this year I was just so hungry.”
In the 60-meter dash final, Henry came off the block slow behind all of the other runners.
“First, I got out and my reaction was slow. So I’m thinking I have to do something big to finish,”
Henry said.
She did just that. Henry was able to come from behind – passing all seven runners – and cross
the finish line first.
Henry’s mindset throughout the race, along with the coaches’ preparation, allowed her to finish
strong and come out on top.
“The mind goes a long way in track and field,” Dimit said. “This year she acted like she
belonged there and she was supposed to win it and she went out and did that.”
Henry’s success this season earned her the title of Atlantic Region Women’s Indoor Track
Athlete of the Year.
“She was the dominant runner in the region and she was definitely deserving of that award,”
Dimit said.
Along with Dunham and Henry, Cory Cox earned All-America honors for the men’s team. He
finished eighth in the long jump with a jump of 7.02 meters.
Dunham’s time of 8.65 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles was fast enough to break the school
record, which she had previously owned.
This year was Dunham’s third performance at the NCAAs. She has been honored as an All-
American each year. The coaches have prepared her physically through workouts and mentally
by pushing her to work harder when she didn’t think she could.
“I wouldn’t be an All-American if it wasn’t for my coaches and the proper training,” Dunham
said. “I definitely attribute all of my success to them.”
Dunham met her personal expectations by becoming an All-American again, while running the
times she set for herself.
Her third-place finish has given her confidence moving into the outdoor track season,
during which she hopes to qualify again for nationals and finish even higher at the outdoor
Championships.
Cox’s All-America honor is the freshman’s first. Cox is used to winning, however, having won
the SUNYAC Championship in the same event last month.
Being honored as an All-American is great for Cox’s confidence moving forward, though he
would have liked to place higher than eighth, according to Dimit.
Bumkoth Jiak also performed well, earning a 10th place finish in the 800-meter run (1:53.27).
The finish was one place higher than his starting position.
Although Jiak was unable to qualify for the finals, Dimit was satisfied with his performance. The
freshman executed his race plan perfectly and was the top freshman in the country.
“You can’t be upset at that,” Dimit said.
The experience should serve beneficial to Jiak in the future.
Jiak gained a lot of experience and now knows that he is as good as everybody else and knows
that he belongs, according to Dimit.
Though the coaches like to give all of the credit to the athletes, proper training and race strategies
from the coaches has enabled the athletes to be successful.
The athletes took what the coaches gave them and implemented that over the weekend.
“They did a really god job of executing; everybody ran their race plans well and that definitely
showed in the results,” Dimit said.
With their success at the NCAA Championships, the team closed out its indoor season, and now
has higher expectations for the outdoor season.
The outdoor season will begin March 23 at the Emory Invitational in Atlanta, Ga.
Jordan Smith can be reached by email at smith.record@live.com.