Hewamudalige wins 5,000-meter run
With just two meets remaining before the Western Athletic Conference Championships May 11-14 in Tulsa, Okla., the men’s track and field team received a boost from some unexpected athletes April 23 at the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, La.
The team will compete in the Rice Twilight meet at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium tomorrow. Since the Houston Indoor Invitational — which will be held May 7 at the University of Houston — will take place during final exams, the Rice Twilight will be the final meet for almost the entire team before it defends its 2004 outdoor title. The meet begins at 11 a.m., but most of the Owls will begin competing at 6 p.m.
Head coach Jon Warren (Jones ‘88) said the Rice Twilight will be the final opportunity for many athletes who have not performed well this season to tune up for the WAC meet.
‘This week is our last hurrah,’ Warren said. ‘The jumpers have been dinged up, [but] they’re coming around. The quarter-milers have been a little flat; they’ll come around a little bit more. If all goes into place like I think it can, we can be in the hunt [at the WAC Championship].’
Junior Marcel Hewamudalige had his best performance of the outdoor season at LSU, winning the 5,000-meter run by almost 14 seconds, finishing in 14 minutes, 25.95 seconds. He also finished seventh in the 1,500 with a time of 3:51.52 — just .13 seconds behind sophomore teammate Stephen Magness, who posted a season-best 3:51.39. Junior Jason Powell had a season-high mark in the triple jump, leaping 50 feet, 3.25 inches in a fourth-place performance.
The 2004 WAC outdoor champion in the 5,000 meters, Hewamudalige had failed to finish a race all spring. He was not initially scheduled to race at Louisiana State University but went on to post two personal-best times. Hewamudalige said he drew on his experience from the fall, when he qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
‘I was putting a lot of pressure on myself,’ Hewamudalige said. ‘It’s the same with a lot of guys on the team, where everybody’s stressed about qualifying times. I remembered what it was like to run cross country.’
Warren said he hopes Hewamudalige can continue to be successful the remainder of the season. ‘[The LSU Relays were] a demonstration of what Marcel can do,’ Warren said. ‘He was pretty beat-up going in. We had a really hard week of training last week. With Marcel, what he can run and what he did are a little bit different. We’re hoping for good results from him.’
Freshman Tyler Whitham also had his best performance of the season at LSU, posting season-best marks in his two primary events, as he cleared 14-9 in the pole vault and ran the 110-meter hurdles in 14.52 seconds despite hitting the sixth hurdle. Junior Luke Stadel fought harsh winds to throw 170-6 to place second in the discus and 53-8.25 to take fifth place in the shot put. Sophomore Pablo Solares and junior Aaron Redman finished .55 seconds apart in the 800 meters, with Solares placing fourth and Redman placing seventh. Freshman Omar Wright finished tied for sixth in the high jump with a leap of 6-5.50.
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