Denver -- The WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships commence Wed., May 16 in Fresno, Calif., with the two-day Decathlon. Running and field events begin on Fri., May 18. The SMU men's team, ranked 10th nationally, and the Rice women, ranked 15th nationally, return to defend their titles.
The Rice women, ranked 15th nationally, are on a quest of their fifth conference title in the last six attempts. The Owls are the reigning WAC outdoor champions, having defeated Fresno State last year by 23 points. Rice will be led by sophomore Allison Beckford, one of the top 400 meter hurdlers in the country. Beckford has already automatically qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships May 30-June 2 in Eugene, Ore., with a time of 56.31 in the 400 hurdles, set at the Drake Relays in April. Her mark is the best in the conference this season and currently ranks second in the nation. The Westemoreland, Jamaica native also has provisionally qualified for the national meet in the 400 meters, posting a time of 53.06. Also expected to contribute to the Owls title defense are Tanya Wright and Aimee Teteris. The duo stand in second and third, respectively, in the conference in the 800 meters. Both have provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships. The womens 4x400 meter relay foursome of Kelechi Anderson, LaKeisha Robertson, Teteris and Beckford own the 13th fastest NCAA Division I time this season, a conference leading and NCAA provisional qualifying, 3:34.78. In the field events for the women, the Owls have one of the best long jumpers in Alice Falaiye. The sophomore owns the WAC record of 21-09, set last year, and currently leads the conference with an NCAA automatic qualifying leap of 21-04 3/4. The Canadian heads to Fresno in defense of her long jump title, won last year with a jump of 20-09 3/4. Jessica Sommerfeld, one of the top throwers in Rice history, will look to defend her shot put title. The senior currently leads the league with a heave of 49-09 1/2, and NCAA provisional qualifying mark. She won last years competition with a throw of 48-10 3/4.
In El Paso last year, Fresno State placed a school-best second, as they tallied 135 points. The top three finish was the highest the team had seen since 1997, when they fell to Brigham Young, who dominated the championship with 234 points. The squad returns three top five finishers from 2000. Senior Erin Boothe took third in the high jump. She finished the 2000 season with a personal-best height of 5-3 3/4 and has reached that level once this season. Junior Kayla Russum took third in the javelin at 151-10 and has already surpassed that distance this season setting an NCAA provisional mark of 155-4. Finally, senior Jynette Grayson-Reed clocked a 54.30 in the 400 meters to finish fifth last year and has already improved on the time with a provisional and third-best WAC cut of 53.60 set on March 24.
For the first time in 15 seasons, Hawai`i has fielded a team. Cross country standouts Cheryl Smith and Casey McGuire-Turcotte have established themselves on the track. McGuire-Turcotte has turned in WAC season-best performances in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000. Meanwhile Smith paced herself to a school record and provisional qualifying time in the 10k on April 20 to lead all WAC runners in that event. She is listed second in the conference in the 3k (9:53.69) and also owns the third-best 5k time (16:52.03). High jumpers Sarah McDiarmid and Oliva Smoody have climbed up the WAC leaders list, posting the second- and third-best marks in that event, respectively.
Newcomer Nevada perhaps surprised everyone but themselves by finishing second to defending champion Rice at the indoor championships in February. The Wolf Pack captured the Big West outdoor title a year ago. Team leaders Jenni Ashcroft and Dana Huseby in the pole vault and Erin Seward in the 3,000-meter steeplechase have provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships later this month. Ashcroft and Huseby are 1-2 in the WAC standings, while Seward leads the steeplechase times.
The No. 10 Mustangs, who finished third with 110 points in 2000 return title holders in the 200, hammer and javelin. Highlighting that trio is Florence Ezeh, who has topped all collegiate throwers with a heave of 66.16 (217-2) in the hammer this spring. Teammate Nancy Gullien also launched the 10th-best mark in the NCAA on May 5, recording a distance of 60.12 (197-3), which is second-best in the WAC. Triple jumper Diana Nikitina will challenge for the title, having inked the second-best mark in the WAC and eighth-best nationally on April 21 with a distance of 42-11 1/2.
TCU will challenge for the 4x100 title as that unit has the 12th-fastest collegiate time to date. Sprinter Monica Twum will lead the Frogs in the 100 meters with a conference-best and top-10 national time of 11.34 set on April 7.
UTEP, ranked 11th nationally, will rely on jumper Anna Tarasova and middle distance runner Svetlana Badrankova to improve upon a fourth-place finish a year ago. Both women are back to defend their titles in the triple jump and 800, respectively. To date, they each own national-leading marks in their respective events. Tarasova lept to a new WAC record of 13.64 (44-9) to open the season on March 31. Also expected to factor into the Miner charge is Anne-Laure Gremillet, who recorded a provisional qualifying distance of 192-7, the third-best in the WAC and the 13th-best in the NCAA.
Tulsas Fride Vullum enters the meet with a fresh WAC record in the 5,000. After finishing runner-up in the event in 2000, the senior is coming off a record setting meet on May 5 in which she clocked in at 16:01.41. The time, which is currently eighth best in the nation, automatically qualified her for the postseason and set new WAC and school records.
For the men, TCU is the clear favorite to sweep the Track and Field titles this year. The 2001 Indoor champions will be challenged by SMU and UTEP, who are tied for 10th in the latest Trackwire poll. Defending champions SMU (146) established a 14 point advantage over TCU (136) at last years championships, while UTEP finished fourth with 113 points. Ranked first in the nation for most of the season, TCU has dominated the sprinting events. Kim Collins, Darvis Patton, Lindel and Michael Frater hold the top, fourth, seventh and 11th best times, respectively, in the nation this season. Collins, Patton and Steve Slowly have logged the second, sixth and 12th fastest times in the NCAA this season, while the 4x100 unit is the quickest among collegiate teams. Collins and Patton has already automatically qualified for the 100 and 200, while Pattons conference-leading mark in the long jump qualified him for the meet back in March. Jason Howard, who holds the 10th-best mark nationally, leads the WAC with his automatic mark of 16.30 meters in the triple jump. In addition, cross country champion Eliud Njubi has the stamina to go the distance in the 800 and 1,500. He automatically qualified for NCAAs with a league-best and eighth-fastest national time of 1:47.17 in the 800 and is second in the WAC and sixth nationally in the 1,500 (3:44.37) entering the conference meet.
Since joining the WAC in 1993, Fresno State finished in the top three ranks, six out of eight years, including a third-place showing in 2000. The Dogs return some top finishers from that squad including sophomore Sam Boswell finished fourth in the pole vault after clearing 16-1 3/4. He was followed by junior Justin Schwartz in fifth at 13-2 1/4. In the 1,500 meters, sophomore Josh Roddy crossed in third with an effort of 3:54.69. Roddy is on track this season to improve on the finish, after posting a personal-best 3:49.09. In addition, the `Dogs return junior Josh Alfaro, who inked a then personal-best in the high jump with a height of 6-7. This season he surpassed that fourth-place mark with a personal-best 6-8. Also expected to perform well is two-time WAC Athlete of the Week Ryan Beckenhauer who is one of three automatic qualifiers in the shot put crew. His mark of 64-2 1/2 is third in the WAC this season behind SMUs powerful throwers Janus Robberts and Andrey Borodkin.
Kicking off the 2001 competition for Rice will be sophomore Ryan Harlan who is entered in two grueling days of decathlon events, beginning Wed., May 16. Harlan is the 2000 junior national decathlon champion, and currently leads the conference with 6,936 points accumulated at the Texas Relays. Freshman Adam Davis will be a contender in the 800 meters, having posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:47.69 last weekend in Stanford, Calif. He currently ranks second in the league. Senior John Jura will compete in his final conference championships, looking for a win in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. He placed fourth and second, respectively, last year. The jumping events are loaded with talent for the Owls. Sophomore Tommy Oleksy, last year's WAC Outdoor Freshman of the Year, has the second-best jump in the conference this season, an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 25-09 1/2. He placed fourth at the indoor national meet earlier this season. Oleksy will also look to add a high jump title to his resume, after placing second at the WAC outdoor meet last year. Also joining him in the high jump will be Reed Ballis and Harlan. The trio own three of the top five marks in the conference this season. Ballis leads the way with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 7-01 3/4, set at the Texas Relays.
Looking to repeat, SMUs strength is in the field events. The Mustangs dominate the performance list in the shot put and discus with Janus Robberts and Andrey Borodkin leading the way in the shot put, while Robberts, Mark Simmons and Peter Mitsides are lenghts ahead of the discus corps. Robberts, the defending champion, and Borodkins automatic marks in the shot rank first and fifth, respectively, in the nation. Robberts automatic distance in the discus is fifth nationally, while defending champion Simmons provisional mark ranks 10th.
UTEP is a well-rounded squad, both in the field and on the track. The Miners own WAC-leading and NCAA automatic marks in the javelin and hammer, with Janne Vartia having set a distance of 228 in the hammer on May 5 and Vesa Jappinen throwing the javelin 241-6 on March 31. Jukka Nurmela cleared 16-6 3/4 in the pole vault to hold the second spot in the WAC this season. Returning to defending his title in the 3000 steeplechase is Carlos Suarez-Gonzalez, the NCAA leader in that event this season. Also, after finishing second in 2000, he is the top returnee in the 1,500. Nick Steward, the conferences only provisional qualifier in the 400 hurdles (51.03) will look to repeat as champion in that event.
For Tulsa, who finished sixth with 48 points a year ago, Shawn McCullough and Brian Erwin will look to finish 1-2 in the 800 as they did a year ago.