Six set personal bests
Six Owls recording personal-best marks Satudray as the women’s track and field team continued its preparation for the Western Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, competing at the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, La. Saturday. Most of the team will compete in the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa today and tomorrow, while other members will stay in Houston to race in the Rice/Runsport Twilight at Rice Track/Soccer Stadium tomorrow.
The Drake Relays require participants to attain a qualifying mark in their events, and about 20 Owl athletes have qualified. The Drake Relays and the Rice/Runsport Twilight will be the team’s last meets before the WAC Outdoor Championships May 11-14 in Tulsa, Okla.
‘Hopefully we’ll just have another good weekend trying to put [into] practice what we’re doing in training, especially the technical aspects,’ head coach Victor Lopez said. ‘We’re still making little mistakes in the relay and so forth. Hopefully, at conference we’ll put everything together.’
At Louisiana State University, sophomore Shardee Caesar and freshman Ulrika Hinson qualified for the NCAA regional meet, to be held May 27-28 in Norman, Okla. Caesar qualified in the triple jump, taking fifth place with a personal-best leap of 40 feet, 7.75 inches — Rice’s top mark this year. Hinson qualified in the javelin, capturing sixth with a personal-best heave of 146-2.
Junior Krystal Robinson finished second in the discus with a toss of 175-4 and seventh in the hammer with a throw of 156-4, a personal best. Freshman Rachel Greff cleared 11-11.75 in the pole vault to earn fourth. In the distance events, freshman mid-year transfer Callie Wells took third in the 1,500 meters in a personal-best 4:29.27. Sandler took fourth in a personal-best 4:30.92.
‘I know I’m capable of running a much better race,’ said Sandler. ‘The conditions were harsh and I went out way too hard.’
Junior Funmi Jimoh took fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in a season-best 13.49 seconds, improving on her regional qualifying time. The 4x100-meter squad of Jimoh, freshman Desarie Walwyn, junior Nina Mayes and senior Yvonne Umeh finished third in 45.16 seconds. Walwyn and Umeh teamed with junior Megan Sandler and senior Keia Watkins to capture third in the 4x400 meters, finishing in a season-best 3:45.28.
Lopez said he thinks the team was hurt by a strong wind at the LSU meet despite its strong overall performance.
‘When it’s windy, athletes already have [negativity] in their heads,’ Lopez said. ‘If you’re running with the wind, sometimes the [times] aren’t accepted by the [NCAA], and if you’re running against the wind, you’re jeopardizing a good performance.’
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