Weekly Track and Field Notes
Athletes of the Week:
Kim Collins, a senior from Basseterre, St. Kitts, was named the Texas Relays Outstanding Male Performer for the second year in a row for his world-class times in the sprint events last week in Austin.
Having already qualified for post-season action in three events on March 31, Collins turned in a career-best and the worlds fastest 100-meter time of the 2001 season, clocking a 9.99 to win the Invitational heat at the Texas Relays on April 7. His conference leading time was two-hundreths of a second from breaking the nine-year old all-time WAC record (9.97). He also contributed to TCUs winning sprint medley and 4x100 relay performances.
Allison Beckford, a sophomore from Westmoreland, Jamaica, ran in five 400-meter races including the 400 hurdles and 4x400 preliminaries and finals and the sprint medley relay at the Texas Relays last week. Notching a second-place finish in the 400 hurdles (56.50), she also improved upon her NCAA automatic qualifying time. Beckford then anchored the 4x400 relay squad that ran a provisional time of 3:35.62, which is also tops in the conference. Her split in the 400-meter leg of the 1, 600 sprint medley relay paced the Owls to a new school record time of 3:47.17 and a second-place finish.
Others Nominated For Athlete of the Week:
Men Nominees:
Sophomore Tommy Olesky posted a NCAA provisional qualifying mark, as well as a career-best, with a leap of 25-9 1/2 in the long jump to finish fourth for Rice at the Texas Relays.
SMUs Janus Robberts threw for an NCAA automatic mark in the shot put with a personal-best mark of 20.64 to caputure the title at the Texas Relays.
The runner-up in the steeplechase two years ago, UTEPs Carlos Suarez-Gonzalez got back on track, winning the event at the Texas Relays with a provisional cut of 8:50.20. The time is currently the fastest in the WAC and ranks fifth in the nation this season. The senior also aided the effort of the 6,000-meter relay that placed third with a time of 15:38.21.
Women Nominees:
For the third consecutive week, Fresno States Crystal Simmons earned top honors in the triple jump. Currently ranked second on the schools career-leader list with a personal-best mark of 12.72, she has posted a season-best 12.67. This week she hit 11.96 and also took second in the long jump with a leap of 5.61.
SMUs Liza Randjelovic swiftly won the javelin competition at the Texas Relays, throwing a NCAA provisional distance of 50.30, which is a conference-best to date.
Spinter Monica Twum led the TCU charge, finishing second in the invitational 100 meters in a NCAA provisional cut and conference-best 11.34. She also anchored the fifth-place 4x100 relay (44.74).
The UTEP 1,600 sprint medley relay unit consisting of Yemi Fagbamila, Astrid Elie, Lucyann Richards and Svetlana Badrankova captured the crown at the Texas Relays in school-record fashion (3:46.95). With solid 200-meter performances from Fagbamila and Elie, the Miners established a quick pace, while Richards and Badrankova sealed the record-performance in the 400 and 800 splits, respectively.
Weekend Recap:
Records were established and broken as the Hawaii womens track program debuted at the Fresno Relays on April 7. At least one Wahine placed in nine of 16 events, including first- and second-place performances in the 3,000-yard run and the high jump. Currently, Sarah McDiarmid and Olivia Smoody ranked second and third on the WAC Top Performance list with leaps of 1.73 and 1.68 meters, respectively. McDiarmids distance set a new school record. Kim Higa, the first-ever UH pole vaulter established a school record with a height of 3.20.
Fresno State turned in personal-best performances during the 73rd annual Bob Matias Fresno Relays. Tamisha Allen anchored the Bulldogs 4x400 relay victory before claiming the 100-hurdle crown. Fellow senior Jynette Grayson-Reed continued her domination in the 400 with her third consecutive top performance. Tossing a personal-best 175-1 in the hammer, Andrea Stelter took second place. Going head-to-head with national team member Rich Harrison in the shot put, Ryan Beckenhauer set a personal-best record to finish second with a mark of 59-4 1/4. Josh Roddy went the distance in the mile, clocking in at 4:14.28. Continuing to dominate the lanes, Fresno States 4x400 group took first (3:12.74).
At the Texas Relays, Nevada pole vaulter Jenni Ashcroft, one of 10 athletes representing UN, led the Pack placing eighth in a field of 12 elite pole vaulters from across the nation, clearing 12-feet, 5-inches. Teammate Frankie Jo Olmos lowered her season-best time in the 100 to 12.06.
Also traveling to Austin for the competitive Texas Relays was Rice. The 1,600-meter sprint medley corp of LaKeisha Robertson, Keitha Moseley, Amiee Teteris and Allison Beckford established a new school record with a second-place effort in a time of 3:47.17. Beckford, the WAC womens track and field Athlete of the Week, also anchored the 4x400 relay squad that made the provisional cut with a conference-leading time of 3:35.62. She also improved upon her NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 400 hurdles with a second-place time of 56.60. Alice Ralaiye earned second in the long jump with a provisional, WAC-leading and personal-best effort of 21-0 3/4. The Rice men had three athletes post provisional qualifying marks, with Reed Ballis, Vaughn Walsyn and Tommy Olesky making the grade in the high jump and long jumps, respectively. Ballis cleared the bar at 7-1 3/4, which leads the WAC and is second-best on the Rice all-time list. Leaping to a personal-best 25-2, Walwyn finished third in the section B long jump competition. Not only was it a NCAA provisional mark, but Tommy Olesky hit a career-best in the long jump with a distance of 25-9 1/2 for fourth.
SMU senior standout, Florence Ezeh showed no nerves at the 74th annual Texas Relays, topping all opponents, including teammates Nancy Guillen (sixth-58.60), Eva Charfreitag (13th-53.10) and Lianne Coombe (23rd-49.08), in the hammer throw with a hurl of 64.10. Liza Randjelovic captured the womens javelin throw with a provisional and conference-best distance of 50.30 to lead the Mustangs on Saturday. The mens 4x800 relay put up a second-place showing, running the event in 7:25.43. Other SMU highlights include a 1-2 performance in the shot put. Janus Robberts earned the mens shot put title with a heave of 20.64, while Andrey Borodkin took runner-up honors with a mark of 19.18.
The TCU men's track team, led by seniors Kim Collins and Darvis Patton, continued its successful season in Austin last week. Collins brought home three gold medals for the Frogs, sprinting to the fastest time in the world this spring with a 9.99 mark in the invitational 100 meters; just two one-hundreths of a second off the school record and WAC all-time record of 9.97. Collins also ran a leg on the winning sprint medley relay team on Friday, and brought home the baton as the anchor leg on TCU's victorious 4x100 relay team. The quartet of Lindel Frater, Steve Slowly, Patton and Collins clocked a 38.94 time, the second fastest in the world this season, topped only by the foursome's time of 38.77 last week in Arlington. It was the third straight year that TCU has finished first in the meet's 4x100 meter relay. Patton, who was on each of the first-place relay teams and finished third in the invitational long jump on Friday, finished third in the invitational 100 meters with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 10.14. Eliud Njubi turned in a strong performance for the Horned Frogs in the invitational mile with a second place finish. On the women's side, Monica Twum finished second in the invitational 100 meters with a personal best and NCAA provisional mark of 11.34. The women's 4x100 meter relay team turned in an NCAA provisional and fifth-place time of 44.74.
UTEP captured three meet titles, had five NCAA qualifying marks and broke one school record at the prestigous Texas Relays. The womens 1,600-meter sprint medley relay captured the first championship, topping Rice with a school-record time of 3:46.95. Senior Carlos Suarez-Gonzalez followed by taking the crown in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with an NCAA provisional time of 8:50.20. The time for Suarez-Gonzalez ranks fifth best in the NCAA this year. Anna Tarasova, who entered the weekend tied with the second-best mark in the world and the NCAA top ranking won the college/university section A with a distance of 44-3 1/4 (13.49m). All-American 1,600-meter relay unit of Margaret Ike, Lucyann Richards, Jose van der Veen and Svetlana Badrankova also took fifth with an NCAA provisional mark of 3:37.81. Sitting in seventh place after the first three legs, Bashar Ibrahim took the handoff and swiftly passed Baylor, SMU, Kentucky and Texas to help the Miners to place third. The 400-meter relay followed with a NCAA provisional time of 39.78 to finish fourth behind TCU (38.94), Texas (39.71) and Nebraska (39.72). Junior Vesa Jppinen placed third in the javelin and was the second collegiate finisher with an NCAA automatic mark of 239-5 (72.98). Distance runners Anita Looper garnered fifth place in the 5,000-meter (17:17.24), while Dario Espinoza-Anta was third (15:00.41) on the mens side.
The Miners also sent a few athletes to the New Mexico State
Invitational last weekend in Las Cruces, N.M. Jessica Angerstien won the 800 and Lisa Bonser won the triple jump. Additionally, Bonser bettered her mark in the long jump with a distance of 17-6 3/4 (5.35).
UTEP will host the 17th Annual ShoeSpring/Audiovox/UTEP Invitational on Saturday, April 14 at Kidd Field. The meet will feature nationally ranked Florida (women only) and South Carolina. In addition, rivals Texas Tech New Mexico (women only) and Southwest Texas State will be participating. Along with the top collegiate competition, the meet will also feature more than 20 world-class athletes who have competed at such events as the Olympics, the World Championships and the European Championships.
Freshman Shana Robinson continued to rewrite Tulsa track history, setting a school record on Friday at the Texas Relays with the fourth-fastest time of the day and an NCAA provsional time of 11.40 in her qualifying heat. Two days later in the final, she placed seventh overall. The 4x400 relay consisting of senior Wendy McFarlane, sopomores Jamese James and Monica Joannes and senior Tiffaney Williams ran the seventh-best time of the day with a 3:42.79 and was able to improve on the time on Saturday, running a 3:42.75 and finishing eighth overall. Tulsas mens team was represented in the finals by the 4x1,500 relay, who bipassed the preliminary heat, going straight to finals where they clocked a time of 16:06.96.
National Rankings
Trackwire Dandy Dozen - April 5
MEN
100 Meters
Kim Collins, TCU 1st
Lindel Frater, TCU 5th
200 Meters
Kim Collins, TCU 1st
Darvis Patton, TCU 5th
Jermaine Joseph, UTEP 11th
800 Meters
Roman Oravec, SMU 3rd
Eliud Njubi, TCU 7th
Adam Davis, Rice 9th
1,500 Meters
Eliud Njubi, TCU 6th
Steeplechase
Bashar Ibrahim, UTEP 1st
Carlos Suarez-Gonzales, UTEP 6th
400 Hurdles
Nick Stewart, UTEP 11th
4x100 Relay
TCU 1st
UTEP 7th
4x400 Relay
TCU 7th
Long Jump
Darvis Patton, TCU 5th
Tommy Oleskey, Rice 6th
Shot Put
Janus Robberts, SMU 1st
Andrey Borodkin, SMU 5th
Javelin
Vesa Jappinen, UTEP 1st
Bouna Diop, SMU 8th
Discus
Janus Robberts, SMU 7th
Mark SImmons, SMU 11th
Hammer
Libor Charfeitag, SMU 2nd
Janne Vartia, UTEP 6th
WOMEN
Hammer
Florence Ezeh, SMU 1st
Nancy Guillen, SMU 8th
Javelin
Liza Randjelovic, SMU 8th
Triple Jump
Anna Tarasova, UTEP 3rd
Lavada Hill, SMU 4th
Diana Nikitina, SMU 7th
Long Jump
Alice Falaiye, Rice 2nd
4x400 Relay
UTEP 7th
4x100 Relay
TCU 12th
400 Hurdles
Allison Breckford, Rice 3rd
5,000 Meters
Fride Vullum, Tulsa 10th
800 Meters
Svetlana Badrankova, UTEP 3rd
Aimee Teteris, Rice 10th