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February 8, 2008 > Sports > Seniors lead women’s track at Houston Indoor Invitational

Seniors lead women’s track at Houston Indoor Invitational

By Natalie Clericuzio | Thresher Editorial Staff

Before its season began, the women’s track team knew it would have to rely on its seniors if it was going to have any success during the indoor season, and last weekend they did not disappoint. The dynamic senior duo of Lennie Waite and Callie Wells grabbed individual gold medals in the 800 meters and 3,000 meters, respectively, to lead Rice last weekend at the Houston Indoor Invitational.

Wells’ first-place finish resulted from her season-best time of 9 minutes, 42.71 seconds while Waite — who also finished fifth in the 3,000 — posted a career-best time in the 800 with 2:12.83.

Rice’s next competition comes tomorrow at the Bayou City Classic, held at the University of Houston Athletics/Alumni Center. This venue has essentially become a second home to the Owls, who have competed there now three weeks in a row.

Tomorrow’s meet will be smaller than last week’s competition, but will still provide Rice with an opportunity to improve its times before the Conference USA Indoor Championships at the end of the month. Sophomore Shakera Reece and senior Marissa Daniels — the Owls’ top cross country runner in the fall— will attempt return from injuries this week.

Although last weekend’s meet was non-scoring — both collegiate and non-collegiate athletes participated — the medal-clinching performances from Waite and Wells were part of a trend across the Rice track team. Sophomore Eunique Hamilton placed first among collegiate competitors in the high jump with a regional-qualifying height of 1.73 meters, a personal best.

In addition, sophomore Nicole Mericle’s fourth-place finish in the 800 marked a personal-best time for her, and fellow sophomore Britney Blodget logged four personal bests in her five events. Freshman Allison Pye achieved a personal best in the 3,000, placing second behind Wells with a time of 9:47.17. Pye was not the only silver-medalist for Rice, as sophomore Amanda Reineck came in second in the 5,000 at 18:56.68.

Following her provisional-qualifying weekend two meets ago, senior Rachel Greff medaled again this weekend, placing second in the pole vault with a height of 3.80 meters. Freshman Ari Ince placed a close third at 3.65 meters in her collegiate debut. Ince was not the only freshman to start the season well, as Becky Wade also garnered a third-place finish for the Owls in the mile with her time of 5:05.28.

Outside of individual events, Rice performed above expectations in the relays as well. The Owls won the distance relay with a time of 12:09.47 and placed second in the 4x400 with a time of 3:48.86, helped by sophomore Sarah Lyons’ first-leg lead.

After this past weekend’s meet, head coach Jim Bevan feels the team is where it needs to be at this point in the season, especially in relation to last year’s Conference USA title season.

“We’re ahead of we were last year at this time, as a whole,” Bevan said.

End of article

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