May 16, 2009

Ivy, Cox Perform Well In Tar Heel Aggie Classic
The North Carolina Tar Heels posted solid performances in the Tar Heel Aggie Classic, a split meet hosted by North Carolina A&T and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Sunday. The Tar Heels hosted the distance carnival and field events at Fetzer Field, Belk Track and Finley Fields. The Aggies hosted the majority of the running events at Irwin Belk Track on a rainy Sunday across the state.

The Tar Heel women participated in a variety of running events at Irwin Belk Track in Greensboro, NC. Freshmen Malia Walked turned in times of 11.82 and 24.20 in the women's 1000-meter dash and 200-meter dash respectively. Freshmen Cierra McGee also performed well in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.52 placing third in the event. Sophomore Christine Johnson placed second in the women's 400-meter dash with a time of 55.57, a second shy of a regional mark. Senior Shaunee Morgan turned in a solid performance in the 400-meter dash placing third with a time of 56.17.

In the women's 100-meter hurdles junior Vanneisha Ivy registered a regional mark with a time of 13.23 finishing first in the event. In the women's 400-meter hurdles sophomore LaToya James placed seventh with a time of 1:08.19.

Majester Earns Spot at Regionals in Pole Vault After Performance at Georgia Tech
Clemson wrapped up its regular season in track & field Saturday at the Georgia Tech Invitational. The Tigers had three regional-qualifying performances over the weekend at the George C. Griffin Track Complex.

The 4x100m relay team took first place Saturday with a time of 39.36. Clemson's group consisted of Justin Murdock, C.J. Spiller, Trenton Guy, and Jacoby Ford. The Tigers will enter the East Region Championships one of the favorites to advance to the national meet.

Kat Majester added her name to the list of regional qualifier from Clemson. She was runner-up in the pole vault with a personal best clearance of 12'7.5". She still ranks fifth in school history in the pole vault. Caroline Kennedy (12'1.5") finished fifth Saturday, but she will also compete at regionals in the event. 

Duke Sweeps 1500-Meter Titles At IC4A & ECAC Championships
The Duke track & field squads received first-place performances in the 1500-meter races of the 2009 IC4A and ECAC Outdoor Championships Sunday afternoon at Princeton University’s Weaver Stadium. Cory Nanni won the IC4A title in a time of 3:49.54, while Molly Lehman captured the ECAC championship in 4:21.41.

Overall, the Duke women took fourth as a team with 41.25 total points behind the University of Connecticut (88), Virginia (58), and West Virginia (47.25). The men captured 10th place with 27 points, where the University at Albany came away with the team title (68 points). This year’s showing is good for Duke’s best combined finish ever at the outdoor IC4A and ECAC meets.

Between the indoor and outdoor meets this year, the Blue Devils have now swept the mile runs as Anna Farias-Eisner won the ECAC Indoor mile and Nanni won the IC4A title. Nanni’s win today makes him just the third athlete in Duke history to win multiple IC4A titles with still two years of competition ahead of the sophomore. 

Profit Wins ECAC Title in 400 Hurdles
Kiani Profit followed her second-place finish Saturday in the heptathlon with an individual championship in the women's 400-meter hurdles Sunday to help the University of Maryland women finish seventh in the team standings at the ECAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Princeton University.

On the men's side in the IC4A Championships, freshman Dwight Barbiasz continued his season of outstanding performances with a third-place finish in the high jump. The Maryland men tied for 31st as a team with eight points.

Profit, who was the top-seed in the 400 hurdles after a career-best effort in Saturday's preliminaries, again set a personal record in earning the title against a strong field. She went 58.16, nearly a second better than Kamilah McShine of Albany. The top seven finishers each hit the NCAA regional standard of 1:00.82. 

Briggs Wins ECAC Javelin Title
Junior Meghan Briggs closed competition for the Virginia track and field teams at the 2009 ECAC/IC4A Championships on Sunday by winning the ECAC javelin title at William Weaver Track & Field Stadium.

Briggs led all competitors with a mark of 162’ 4”, while freshman Tara Karin finished ninth in the event, throwing 139’ 6”.

In the shot put, freshman Maureen Laffan finished fourth with an NCAA regional qualifying mark of 47’ 10” to extend her season and claim the program’s all-time fifth longest throw. Senior Alexa Manning also competed in the event, throwing 45’ 7.75” and finishing sixth. 

Ritchie Turns In Top Performance at IC4A Championships
Senior Timothy Ritchie finished in second place in the 5000m at the 2009 IC4A Championships this weekend at Princeton. He led the Boston College men's track and field team that finished in 31st place with eight points.

Albany won the meet with a total of 68 points. Liberty came in second in the championship with 56 points and Rutgers earned the bronze with 55.

Ritchie ran a stellar time of 14:02.59 in the 5000m for not only second place, but it is also an NCAA Regional qualifying time and the second-fastest time in Boston College history. 

Four Hokies win events at Tar Heel Classic
Seniors Natalie Sherbak, Erin Reddan, Billy Berlin and sophomore Hunter Hall all tallied victories for the Virginia Tech track and field squad at the Tar Heel and Aggie Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday.

Sophomore Hunter Hall led off the string of wins for the Hokies, matching his outdoor career-best in the event with a clearance of 17-00.75. Fellow sophomore Joe Davis finished fourth in the event, vaulting a 16-00.75. Saturday marked Hall’s first victory in the outdoor pole vault in his career.

On the women’s side, three Hokies placed second, third and fourth in the pole vault. Freshman Abby Schaffer, already regionally qualified entering the weekend, claimed runner-up with a clearance of 12-07.50, while junior Lisa Birnbaum regionally qualified in the event with a third-place effort of 12-07.50 as well. Sophomore Kelly Phillips came in fourth, earning a height of 12-01.50. 

Boston College Women's Track & Field Competes at ECAC Championships
The Boston College women's track and field team competed in the 2009 ECAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships this weekend at Princeton. The Eagles finished in 22nd place with a total of 15 points.

Connecticut ran away with the meet with a total of 88 points. Virginia and West Virginia finished second and third in the event with 59 and 47.25 points, respectively.

Boston College was led by junior Samantha Gawrych who finished third in the 800m with a time of 2:10.06 while classmate Siobhan Breagy took fifth by crossing in 2:10.75. Both of them eclipsed the NCAA Regional qualifying time in the preliminaries.

May 16, 2009

Florida State Closes Out Last Regular Season Meet
The Florida State track and field teams (Men and Women- No. 3) will now head home to focus on the NCAA Regionals after closing out their last regular season meet in the Georgia Tech Invitational. The Seminoles came out of the meet earning several regional marks while also setting new personal records.

Dominating the competition in the women’s 800m run was senior Susan Kuijken and sophomore Pilar McShine (port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago). Kuijken, a five-time All-American and NCAA Champion, shot straight up to the top of the NCAA rankings where the Nijmegen, Netherlands native took first place with a regional qualifying time of 2:02.24 that now sits as the best performance in the nation for this season. McShine quickly followed in second place as she crossed the line in 2:02.89 which is the fourth best performance in the nation as well as the second fastest time in the ACC for this season. Both Seminoles recorded new lifetime-best times.

The men’s distance runner Nathan Duby also found success in the 800m run as the Seminole was the first collegiate athlete to finish line with a time of 1:49.30. Duby set a new personal record and earned his fist regional qualification in the event. h

Hurricanes Claim Three Titles at Georgia Tech Invite
The University of Miami men's and 16th-ranked women's track and field teams closed out their final regular season meet on a winning note at the George C. Griffin Track on the campus of Georgia Tech. The 4x400 relay, Murielle Ahoure and Ti'erra Brown all outlasted their opponents and claimed titles in the last meet before the NCAA Regional Championships.

The 4x400 relay team of Ahoure, Takecia Jameson, Nene Kamate and Kristy Whyte blew away the competition on their way to a winning time of 3:36.32, a season-best effort in the event. The second place team from Middle Tennessee State finished more than four seconds behind Miami at 3:40.73.

The Hurricane trio of Brown, Tameka Jameson and Takecia Jameson all finished in the top-eight of the 400-meter hurdles. Brown walked away as champion with her season-best time of 57.28, improving on her regional qualifying time. Tameka Jameson finished right behind Brown in second-place at 57.44. Takecia Jameson improved on her regional time as well at 59.84 seconds. 

Castlin wins 100-meter hurdles at Georgia Tech
The Virginia Tech track and field squads weathered a long rain delay and put together several solid performances in the final day of the Georgia Tech Invitational on Saturday in Atlanta, Ga.

After a heavy downpour forced the delay of the meet after the completion of only one event, action resumed and junior Kristi Castlin made the most of her opportunity. Castlin won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.20. The Douglasville, Ga., native ran the fastest time in Friday’s prelim in the event, clocking a season-best 12.90.

In other sprints action, freshman Ogechi Nwaneri placed fourth in the women’s 200-meter dash with a career-best time of 23.82, improving on her already-regionally qualified, season-best time. Freshman Nick Vaughn finished fifth in the men’s 200-meter dash. The Reston, Va., native clocked a career-best 21.40 in the effort.

Wright Vaults to Yellow Jacket Record As Georgia Tech Invitational Concludes
Sophomore Joanna Wright cleared a school-record in the pole vault as the Georgia Tech track & field teams posted 11 NCAA regional qualifying performances on the final day of competition at the Georgia Tech Invitational Saturday.

After rain forced a two-hour delay in events on Saturday, the meet crew made up for time with a rolling start. Wright, who began the day at 11 a.m. returned to the pole vault finals around 2:45 p.m. to eclipse the school-record with the clearance of 13'1.50". She topped the previous record of 12'11.50", held by herself and teammate Erica Penk, by exactly two-inches.

With over 65 teams and 1,000 athletes in competition on the weekend, the most dramatic finish came in the final event of the meet - the men's 4x400-meter relay. In third place for most of the race, the Tech squad of Matt DiDia, Hunter Classen, Subbu Sivanesan and Antonio McKay Jr. took the lead on the final two turns to hold on for an NCAA regional qualifying time of 3:08.88 and the win. 

Profit, Haskins Shine for Terps at ECAC/IC4A Track
Sophomore Kiani Profit had an outstanding day with a second-place finish in the heptathlon and a meet-best run in the 400-meter hurdles, while Legonn Haskins hit his qualifying mark for the NCAA East Regionals by 0.01 seconds to highlight University of Mayland performances Saturday at the ECAC / IC4A Outdoor Championships being hosted by Princeton.

Profit scored 5,096 points in the heptathlon on Friday and Saturday, finishing second only to Uhunoma Osazuwa of Syracuse, who had 5,258. Those were the only two women who broke the 5,000-point mark in the meet. Profit broke her previous-best in the javelin by four feet, throwing 112 feet, 8 inches, and moving into seventh on Maryland's career list. She had a career-best 24.87 in the 200 on Friday.

Later, she led the field in the 400-hurdle prelims, going a full-second under her career best to run 58.68. She is already in second place on Maryland's all-time list behind only school record-holder Thema Napier (57.73 in 2002). The finals in most running events will be contested on Sunday. 

Kelly Wins ECAC Discus Title
Senior Caitlin Kelly followed up her Penn Relays title last weekend with her first-ever ECAC title in the discus on Saturday afternoon. The senior threw 167’ 2” to win the event, while senior All-American Billie-Jo Grant finished runner-up with a toss of 165’ 11” and classmate Amy Bilmanis took third with a throw of 152’ 7”.

Freshman Erin Wykoff also competed in the event, throwing 137’ 8”.

In preliminary events, sophomore Chidi Uche advanced to tomorrow’s finals in the 400m hurdles, winning her heat and finishing second overall in 59.66 – the eighth fastest time in program history. 

Ellis Jumps To Second Place In Long Jump At IC4As
Senior Jade Ellis leapt to an outdoor personal best (with legal wind 0.7) of 25-1.25 to take second place in the IC4A long jump Saturday afternoon at Princeton University’s Weaver Stadium, highlighting a strong second day of action for the Blue Devils at both the IC4A and ECAC Championships.

Ellis, the Duke record holder in the event, took the lead in the first round and held onto it until the final round, when an athlete from Manahattan College edged him by 1cm. Ellis fouled on his final attempt to take back the lead but held on for the silver medal, scoring eight points for the Duke men and securing All-East honors.

Both Cory Nanni and Molly Lehman qualified for tomorrow’s finals in their runs of the 1500m today. Nanni advances with a fifth-place time of 3:46.07, his second-fastest run at the distance, while Lehman clocked a third-place 4:24.38 in the ECAC event. Both were NCAA Regional marks. 

Bethea Posts Top-10 Finish at GT Invite
The two-day Georgia Tech Invite ended on Saturday, with Mattie Bethea leading the track and field teams with a seventh place finish in the high jump.

Bethea jumped 5'07.00" to finish seventh, with teammate Kayla Lawson close behind with a jump of 5'05.00", good for 11th.

Tiayonna Blackmon ran a 2:13.87 in the 800m to finish off the women's competitors. 

Wake Forest Completes Final NCAA Tune-up At Georgia Tech
The Wake Forest track and field team completed its final tune-up before the NCAA Regionals this weekend at the rain-soaked Georgia Tech Invitational.

Senior Michael Bingham and junior Kim Vos each took advantage of the final opportunity to qualify for the regionals.

Bingham, the 400-meter indoor National Champion, won the 200-meter dash Saturday with a personal-best time of 20.75. He bettered her previous personal-best of 20.86.