Women’s track heads to LSU
With only four weeks and three meets remaining before the Conference USA championships, the women’s track and field team will compete in the Louisiana State University Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, La. today and Saturday. Rice will primarily face schools from around the South at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium, which hosted the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championships and is widely considered one of the best track facilities in the nation.
The LSU meet will not be the Owls’ toughest of the season, but it will feature two of the strongest teams in the nation — host LSU, which has won three of the last six national championships, and the University of Southern Mississippi, which finished second in last year’s C-USA title meet. Other teams scheduled to compete in this weekend’s meet include two teams that finished near the bottom of their conferences last year, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and McNeese State University. Head coach Jim Bevan said he expects to see a few Owls qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Regional Championships next month.
“We’re hoping to get some more regional qualifiers this week and to make strides in the preparation towards the conference championships,” Bevan said. “We need to be rounding into form now.”
Last week, most of the team traveled to Walnut, Calif. to participate in the Mount San Antonio College Relays. Sophomore Marissa Daniels turned in a career-best performance, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship in the 10,000 meters with a second place time of 33 minutes, 59.56 seconds. Junior Kate Gorry also set a personal-best time in the event, running 34:20.35 to place sixth. Daniels and Gorry now rank third and fourth all-time at Rice in the 10,000 behind Julie Jiskra (Jones ‘92) and Catherine Spradley (Jones ‘88).
“It was very exciting just to be able to run there and perform well when it counted,” Daniels said. “My body took a beating in the 10k, but I’m already really excited and looking forward to conference.”
Sophomores Callie Wells and Lennie Waite also posted personal bests at Mt. SAC — in the 1,500 meters. Wells scored her first outdoor regional-qualifying time of the season by finishing in 4:24.67, which was good for seventh place. Waite finished in eighth place with a time of 4:34.97 but did not qualify for regionals.
Senior Krystal Robinson placed third overall and second among collegians in the discus, throwing 176 feet, 4 inches. The mark, which was less than an inch behind second place and less than two feet off of first, was Robinson’s best since throwing a second place 179-2 at last year’s Western Athletic Conference Championships.
Robinson and the long-distance runners had the luxury of competing Friday evening and Saturday evening, when the weather was pleasant enough to not affect their performance. The sprints, hurdles and jumping events all took place Friday afternoon during consistent rainfall. As a result, many marks were worse than expected. Sophomore Ulrika Hinson placed 5th in the discus with a throw of 150-9 and finished 12th in javelin with a 120-2 mark. Sophomore Lacee Carmon placed second in the long jump with a jump of 18-10.75 but was short of regional qualification.
The Mt. SAC Relays was just one of three meets Rice competed in over the weekend. Also on Friday, Waite, Carmon, Robinson and Hinson traveled to nearby Claremont, Calif. to compete in the Pomona-Pitzer Track and Field Invitational. Carmon posted the best finish among Owls, jumping 17-10.75 in the long jump to finish third. Robinson placed fourth in the discus, and Waite placed fifth in the 800. Hinson’s event, the javelin, was rained out.
A few other Owls stayed in town for the Texas Southern University Triangular meet on the TSU campus Saturday. Competing unattached, senior Funmi Jimoh won the long jump with a wind-aided 21-4.75, won the 200 with a time of 23.65 and placed third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 13.73 seconds. Freshman Claire Shorall finished second out of six competitors in the 800, crossing the finish line in 2:18.75.
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