Championship Race is Tight Heading into Final Day of Action
C-USA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD DAY TWO CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS 2008 C-USA OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL 2008 C-USA OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP LIVE RESULTS May 16, 2008
IRVING, Texas - The race for the 2008 Conference USA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship title is a close one as host UTEP enters the final day of action with 70 points, just ahead of Memphis' 52 points and Houston's 48 points for third place. After nine events, the women's race has Rice and Memphis at the top of the leader board with 65 and 46 points, respectively. UTEP is in third place with 40.5 points, followed by Tulsa (31.5) and SMU (31). In addition to the preliminaries of the running events, there were three men and five women championship field events that were decided Friday night at Kidd Field in El Paso, Texas. Highlighting the evening was UTEP senior Alex van der Merwe won his third consecutive javelin title with a clearance of 67.88m (222'8"). He also ranks fourth in the NCAA with a mark of 74.62m. Taking silver was East Carolina's Spencer Barrick with a mark of 63.34m (207'10") and Houston's Morgan Floyd mark of 60.46m (198'4") was third best. UTEP senior Mickael Hanany won his second C-USA long jump outdoor title with a gold medal leap of 7.59m (24'11"). A pair of Houston Cougars took the silver and bronze medals as Chris Carter placed second (7.15m/23'5.5") and Thomas Lang was third (7.12m/23'4.5"). Memphis came up strong again as the Tigers captured the top three honors in the men's shot put. Earning his first C-USA outdoor track and field gold medal was senior Glen Edwards. Edwards recorded a throw of 17.60m (57'9") for top honors, while teammate Kunt Syversen produced a mark of 16.81m (55'2") for second and Seth Major was third with a performance of 16.47m (54'0.5"). The championship field events for the women were the pole vault, shot put, long jump, javelin and high jump. Rice junior Rachel Greff established a championship record and NCAA qualifying mark of 4.13m (13'6.5") to become the second three-time pole vault champion in league history. She defeated teammate Ariana Ince, who placed second with a mark of 3.70m (12'1.5"), and third-place finisher Caitlin Clancy of Tulsa (3.70m/12'1.5"). Greff also owns the NCAA eighth best clearance of 4.20m in the event. Rhian Clark of Houston also owns three pole vault titles (2000-02).
C-USA's top six performers in the women's shot put qualified for NCAA regional action. Memphis placed two among the top three finishers and three among the top eight. Memphis senior Susan King won the title with a championship record toss of 17.84m (58'6.5"), followed by UTEP's Keisha Walkes and Tiger Sivan Aballi regional qualifying marks of 15.83m (51'11.25") and 15.78m (51'9.25"). Two of the top three women's long jump titles went to UTEP. Sophomore Blessing Okagbare recorded another league record of 6.70m (21'11.75"), followed by sophomore Ashley May of Southern Miss second place toss of 5.95m (19'6.25") and senior Nelly Tchayem who finished third with a mark of 5.94m (19'6"). Ranked seventh in the nation, SMU senior Andrea Kvetova picked up her first gold medal of the championship with a toss of 50.28m (164'11") in the javelin. Southern Miss Hana Prudilova took silver with a mark of 45.87m (150'6"), followed Katy McGillen of Tulsa, who recorded a mark of 44.73m (146'9"). All three top performances met NCAA Regional standards. In the final women's field event of the evening, Chen Edri of Memphis won her first conference title with a clearance of 1.75m (5'8.75") in the high jump. Marshall's Kristin Smith, UCF's Lizzie Harris and Valeria Moore of East Carolina also earned their programs first all-conference honor in the high jump by tying for second-place with a leap of 1.65m (5'5"). In the only running event final of the day, SMU freshman standout Silje Fjortoft captured the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:33.72, followed by Rice's Nicole Mericle (10:35.88) and Becky Wade (10:52.70) clocking the second and third-best times in the 12-person field. UTEP senior Patrick Mutai repeated his 3,000-meter steeplechase crown with a time of 8:55.52, while teammate Nicodemus Ng'etich earned silver with a second-place time of 9:18.35. Rice's Brett Olson took bronze in 9:33.12. C-USA All-Conference honors are awarded to the top three finishers in each event. The individual champions are named to the first team, while second-place finishers are awarded second team honors and the third team is comprised of bronze medalist. Saturday's championship races start at 5 p.m., while the finals for the men's and women's discus and triple jump and men's high jump and pole vault will take place earlier that afternoon. All session championship tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for youth, while single session tickets are $10 and $5. C-USA students with a valid I.D. are admitted free, while adult military personal are admitted for $7 and youth military for $4. Tickets are available by calling (915) 747-5234. For live results of the 2008 C-USA Outdoor Track and Field Championship can be viewed at http://conferenceusa.cstv.com/championships/08-c-otrack-championship.html or http://www.flashresults.com/flashtexas/cusaoutdoor08/. 2008 C-USA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP Women's Standings Men's Standings |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
