Bearkat women second, men fifth at 44th annual Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Meet
5/4/2007 1:00:00 AM | Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
Southland Conference Track Live Results
From The Huntsville Item
By Cody Stark
BEARKAT WOMEN FINISH STRONG
TO END AS RUNNERS-UP
NACOGDOCHES ? With first place out of reach thanks to a dominating performance by Texas State, the Sam Houston State women's track and field squad had a heated battle for second place with Stephen F. Austin heading into the final event at the Southland Conference outdoor championships Sunday evening.
Trailing the Lumberjacks by three points going into the 4x400 relay, Darnesha Stonum, Jessica Fisher, Ashley Casalini and Desiree Taylor stormed to a second-place finish in a time of 3:42.77 to lift the Bearkats to an overall runner-up finish.
SHSU completed the meet with 124 points, 43 1/2 behind the champion Bobcats. SFA finished third with 123, followed by Texas-San Antonio (93) and Lamar (86).
“It came down to the 4-by-400 and we had to beat SFA by three places,” SHSU head coach Curtis Collier said. “We performed well and I thought we had some outstanding performances.
“With all the good fortune we have had the last two years, it just wasn't enough this time around. But I can't say enough about the effort. These kids just show up every time out. That isn't always typical with every team, but the reality is that it is with this group.”
Headlining the highlights for the Bearkats on the final day of competition was the performance of Fisher. The freshman sprinter roared to victories in the 100- and 200-meter dashes in a pair of regional qualifying times.
Fisher held on to the end to capture the SLC 100 title in a time of 11.56 seconds, before coming back later to take the 200 in 23.54. She also teamed up with Tiana Lee, Tara Tyler and Regina Offord to place second in the 4x100 relay with a regional qualifying mark of 45.61 seconds.
“Everything was just a great surprise because I didn't come here as the favorite,” Fisher said. “I was fourth and fifth in (the 100 and 200) but I came in and did everything coach (Bill) Self has taught me and it worked. I never thought I would be able to do this as a freshman.”
Bearkat senior pole vaulter Jennie Sewell also turned in another solid performance Sunday, capturing her seventh SLC title. Sewell blew away the rest of the competition with a vault of 13 feet, 5 inches, which was a foot better than the second-place finisher.
After taking last year off to get healthy, Sewell now has won all seven outdoor events she has participated in during the spring and will once again be heading off to the NCAA regionals.
“I'm glad to be back and (winning) has been a huge confidence booster for me,” Sewell said. “A lot of people say that whenever you sit out a year you fall off when you come back. But I'm on my way to peeking and being back to where I was when I got injured. It feels good to be on my way back up.”
Sewell and Fisher weren't the only Bearkats to bring home a conference championship. Stonum came out of nowhere to win the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:02.22.
Tyler, running in her final SLC meet, turned things up a notch to finish third in 110 hurdles (14.07 seconds), just ahead of Lee, who placed fourth. Taylor came in second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.28, and Offord was fourth in the 100 at 11.80. Devyon Mitchell brought home third-place honors in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.10.
Karen Klintoe placed fourth in the pole vault with a leap of 11 feet, 5 3/4 inches, while Allison Ferries came in seventh in the 5,000-meter run and Whitney Rister was eighth in the 1,500.
“On the women's side, we have a conference champion in the 100, the 200 and both are school records and NCAA regional qualifying marks,” Collier said. “Desiree Taylor never says die and passes some people to finish second. Devyon Mitchell had a personal best in the 800. We had a lot of great times, personal bests and regional qualifying marks.
“Jennie won another pole vault title and Darnesha Stonum ended up winning the 400 hurdles. That is a walk-on makes good story. We just had an outstanding day all around, and again I'm just so proud of our performances.”
BEARKAT MEN FINISH FIFTH, POLE VAULT TITLE HIGHLIGHTS MEET
NACOGDOCHES ? With the nation's top pole vaulter in the field, the odds were stacked against Sam Houston State's Matt Adkisson successfully defending his Southland Conference outdoor pole vaulting title.
But after clearing 17 feet, 6 1/2 inches, the third-best height in the nation this year, Adkisson forced a jump off with Brad Gebauer of McNeese State, a transfer from Michigan State.
After both vaulters had a couple of failed attempts, Adkisson was able to clear 17 feet, 4 3/4 inches while Gebauer could not, securing the Bearkat senior his second straight SLC outdoor crown.
“It feels pretty good (to repeat) because I won last year and had to come back and defend my title,” Adkisson said. “I have a huge smile on my face right now and that shows how excited I am. I told my coaches this weekend I was going to beat my (personal-best height) with a 17-6, and I was able to do that. It's starting to come around for me.”
The Sam Houston State men's team simply did not have the manpower to make a run at a third consecutive SLC outdoor championship. The Kats finished fifth with 80 total points, but they did bring home some individual titles.
Lane Dennis cruised to a first-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a regional-qualifying time of 51.06 seconds. The former Class 4A 300-meter hurdle champion led for most of Sunday's race, turning it on down the stretch to beat runner-up Coby Morrison (51.38) of Texas-Arlington.
In a testament of will, SHSU's Michael Courtney overcame a foot injury to capture the 400-meter dash title. For quite some time, Courtney has had to wear a protective boot and was limited in workouts, but that didn't stop him from running a regional-qualifying time of 46.49 seconds.
Courtney also competed in the 200-meter dash, finishing sixth in 21.70, and was part of the 4x100-meter relay with Dennis, Jonathan Harris and Kevin Houston that took fourth place with another regional-qualifying mark (40.64).
“It feels great (to win an SLC title) because I have been working hard all year and I have to thank God for blessing me with the ability to run,” Courtney said.
“It is also relieving because coming into the meet I haven't been able to do all the practicing because of my foot.”
The Bearkats also had several other athletes post some top finishes on Sunday with John Thomas placing second in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.29. Chris Edison was third in the 400 at 47.15, while Morten Munkholm came in third in the 1,500-meter run (3:53.14) and eighth in the 5,000 (15:06.37).
Earlier in the day during the field event finals, SHSU's Chris Cralle and Jon Tipton finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the discus. Cralle had a throw of 164 feet, 7 inches to beat out Tipton by an inch. Chris Davis took fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 47 feet, 8 inches.
“On the men's side, Matt beating the number one guy in the country to win the pole vault was outstanding,” SHSU head coach Curtis Collier said. “Out at the discus, Jon Tipton throws to personal bests to go from 11th to sixth. Then Chris Cralle, a freshman, is fifth.
“We also had Lane Dennis winning the 400 hurdles, and the 4x100 had a regional-qualifying mark. Michael Courtney and Chris Edison were great in the 400. We just had some outstanding performances today and I'm proud of the effort.”
The men's overall title came down to the final event of the day, the 4x400-meter relay. Texas-Arlington (128 points) came in first to wrap up the SLC championship after Texas-San Antonio (127) finished third. Southeastern Louisiana (106) finished third overall, and host Stephen F. Austin (102) was fourth.
DAY ONE AND TWO
The Sam Houston State women are in sixth place and the Bearkat men are eighth following day two of the Southland Conference Track and Field Championships in Nacogdoches.
On the women's side, SHSU's Jasmine Wyatt picked up the first points of the day with a fourth-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 46 feet, 4 1/4 inches. Jamie Spivey, who finished 10th in the heptathlon, came up with a leap of 19 feet, 2 3/4 inches to take sixth in the long jump.
The best finish for the women came in the 3,000-meter steeplechase finals, as Allison Ferries picked up eight points with a second-place showing. Her time of 10:52.64 was second to Lamar's Amanda King (10:16.99).
The SHSU women have 21 points heading into today's running finals. SFA leads the meet with 70 1/2 points, followed by Texas-San Antonio (49 1/2), Texas State (48), Southeastern Louisiana (44) and Lamar (23).
The Bearkats may have a lot of ground to make up, but like they have done the previous two years on the way to back-to-back championships, the women have a chance to do most of their damage in today's running finals.
“We have a lot of runners that have advanced to the finals,” SHSU head coach Curtis Collier said. “We have two in the 200 and the 100 as well as the 100-meter hurdles and we have a good chance with our relays. We still have a lot of points coming our way. It's probably not promising that we will win because there are some strong teams ahead of us, but we have a good chance at finishing second.”
Qualifiers for today's running finals include Jessica Fisher who won her heat in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.63 seconds, which was the fastest of the day and a regional-qualifying mark. She matched the feat again later in the day with another regional-qualifying time of 23.61 in the 200-meter dash which was also good enough for the top spot in the finals.
Regina Offord will join Fisher in the 200 and 100 finals. She qualified seventh with a time of 24.40 in the 200 and second in the 100 at 11.76.
SHSU also has two sprinters advancing in the 100-meter hurdles. Tiana Lee qualified fourth with a time of 13.96 seconds just ahead of Tara Tyler at 14.02. Desiree Taylor will run in the 400-meter dash finals after turning in the fourth-best preliminary time of 54.04.
Devyn Mitchell had the second-fastest time of the day to make it into the 800-meter run finals at 2:16.11. Darnesha Stonum set the pace in the 400-meter hurdles with the top preliminary time of 1:01.45, and will be joined in the finals by Lee, who was sixth at 1:03.60.
While a third straight SLC team title is out of reach for the SHSU men, the Bearkats also have a chance to move up today.
The Bearkats only have 10 total points after Jon Tipton earned two Saturday by taking seventh in the javelin with a throw of 189 feet, 5 inches.
Southeastern Louisiana leads the men's side with 64 points, six in front of second place Texas-San Antonio. Stephen F. Austin (54) is in third, McNeese State (48) fourth, Texas-Arlington (28) fifth, Texas State (17) sixth and Northwestern State (16) seventh.
“We just don't have the guns this year,” Collier said. “We have had people hurt and didn't even have runners in the 100 and 800. We are shooting for fourth place but it is going to be a challenge.
“But I was pleased with everybody's effort today. We have given it 100 percent and if we carry it over to (today) then we have nothing to complain about.”
Morten Munkholm will be in the 1,500-meter run finals after qualifying fourth with a time of 4:02.02. John Thomas had the second fastest time in the 110-hurdles with a time of 14.43 seconds.
Michael Courtney set a pair of regional-qualifying marks in the 400 and 200. His time of 47.01 seconds was the top qualifier in the 400, and he had the second best in the 200 (21.19). Chris Edison will also be in the 400 finals with the sixth-fastest time of 47.63.
Former Huntsville standout Lane Dennis also had a regional-qualifying mark in the 400 hurdles. He turned in the fastest time in the prelims at 51.83 seconds.
Today's field event finals begin with the women's pole vault where SHSU's Jennie Sewell is favored to win her seventh conference title at 10:30 a.m. The running finals kick off at 5 p.m.
Chris Cralle placed second in the men's hammer with a mark of 181 feet, nine inches. In the women's hammer, Natalia Clark finished sixth with a throw of 158 feet, five inches.
Jamie Spivey stands in fifth place in the hepthalon with 2,860 points. Chris Guillory stands in eight place in the decathlon.
After back-to-back years winning both the men's and women's Southland Conference outdoor track and field championships, the Sam Houston State Bearkats head into the 44th annual SLC outdoor meet as underdogs.
Competition in the outdoor championship begins with the decathlon and hepthalon on Friday morning as Stephen F. Austin hosts the competition in Nacogdoches.
Texas-San Antonio and Texas-Arlington are the favorites on the men's side and Texas State-San Marcos is the front runner for the women.
Texas-Arlington has won the men's title seven times, but the Mavericks' last championship was in 1997. Texas-San Antonio won the men's outdoor track and field crown in 2001.
44th Annual Southland Conference
Outdoor Track & Field Championships SHSU Results
Stephen F. Austin State - 5/4/2007 to 5/6/2007
| WOMEN | MEN | ||||
| HAMMER | HAMMER | ||||
| Natalia Clark | 6th | 158' 5" (48.29m) | Chris Cralle | 2nd | 181' 9" (55.41m) |
| Jasmine Wyatt | 10th | 148' 2" (45.17m) | Jon Tipton | 11th | 150' 8" (45.92m) |
| Kim Olison | 11th | 148' 1" (45.15m) | |||
| Mallory Adams | 18th | 128' 10" (39.26m) | 10,000m RUN | ||
| Dustin Joubert | 12th | 33:54.33 | |||
| HEPTATHLON | |||||
| Jamie Spivey | 10th | 4,182 | DECATHLON | ||
| Chris Guillory | 9th | 5,547 | |||
|
Phillip Dunham |
10th | 4,951 | |||
| 1500m RUN | |||||
| Whitney Rister | 8th | 4:55.14 (4:52.01 prelim) | 1500m RUN | ||
| Morten Munkholm | 3rd | 3:53.14 | |||
| 100m HURDLES | |||||
| Tara Tyler | 3rd | 14.07 (14.02 prelim) | 110m HURDLES | ||
| Tiana Lee | 4th | 14.11 (13.96 prelim) | John Thomas | 2nd | 14.29 |
| 400m DASH | 400m DASH | ||||
| Desiree Taylor | 2nd | 56.28 (56.04 prelim) | Michael Courtney | 1st | 46.49 |
| Ashley Casalini | pre | 57.30 | Chris Edison | 3rd | 47.15 |
| Tiffany Singleton | pre | 57.41 | |||
| 100m DASH | |||||
| 100m DASH | Kevin Houston | pre | 10.89 | ||
| Jessica Fisher | 1st | 11.56 | |||
| Regina Offord | 4th | 11.80 (11.76 prelim) | 400m HURDLES | ||
| Lane Dennis | 1st | 51.06 | |||
| 800m DASH | Dexter Cole | pre | 55.41 | ||
| Devyn Mitchell | 3rd | 2:13.10 | John Thomas | pre | 58.29 |
| 400m HURDLES | 200m DASH | ||||
| Darnesha Stonum | 1st | 1:01.22 | Michael Courtney | 6th | 21.70 (21.19 pre) |
| Tiana Lee | 8th | 1:11.36 (1:03.60 prelim) | Jonathan Harris | pre | 21.72 |
| Kevin Houston | pre | 22.16 | |||
| 200m DASH | |||||
| Jessica Fisher | 1st | 23.54 | 3000m STEEPLECHASE | ||
| Regina Offord | 8th | 24.77 (24.40 prelim) | Keith Edmond | 9th | 10:04.03 |
| 5000m RUN | LONG JUMP | ||||
| Allison Ferries | 7th | 18:15.46 | Chris Davis | 11th | 20' 11.75" |
| Chris Guillory | 17th | 19' 9" | |||
| 4x100 RELAY | |||||
| Tiana Lee, Jessica Fisher, | 2nd | 45.61 | JAVELIN | ||
| Tara Tyler, Regina Offord | Jon Tipton | 7th | 189' 5" | ||
| 4x400 RELAY | SHOT PUT | ||||
| D. Stonum, J. Fisher | 2nd | 3:42.77 | Dustin Dzuik | 11th | 52' 1" |
| A. Casalini, D. Taylor | Jon Tipton | 17th | 47' 4.5" | ||
| 3000m STEEPLECHASE | 5000m RUN | ||||
| Allison Ferries | 2nd | 10:52.64 | Morten Munkholm | 8th | 15:06.37 |
| Erika Wright | 7th | 11:52.73 | Dustin Joubert | 17th | 15:45.84 |
| SHOT PUT | 10,000m RUN | ||||
| Jasmine Wyatt | 4th | 46' 4.25" | Dustin Joubert | 12th | 33:54.33 |
| Ebonee Stephens | 16th | 38' 3.5" | |||
| 4x100m RELAY | |||||
| LONG JUMP | L. Dennis, J. Harris | 4th | 40.64 | ||
| Jamie Spivey | 6th | 19' 2.75" | M. Courtney, K. Houston | ||
| Shannon Brown | 20th | 16' 10.5" | |||
| POLE VAULT | |||||
| JAVELIN | Matt Adkisson | 1st | 17' 6.5" | ||
| Kim Olison | 13th | 102' 9" | |||
| TRIPLE JUMP | |||||
| POLE VAULT | Chris Davis | 5th | 47' 8" | ||
| Jennie Sewell | 1st | 13' 5" | |||
| Karin Klintoe | 4th | 11' 5.75" | DISCUS | ||
| Kristi Hermes | 10th | 10' 11.75" | Chris Cralle | 5th | 164' 7" |
| Jon Tipton | 6th | 164' 6" | |||
| TRIPLE JUMP | |||||
| Shannon Brown | 4th | 38' 10.25" | MEN'S FINAL STANDINGS | ||
| 1. Texas-Arlington | 128 | ||||
| DISCUS | 2. Texas-San Antonio | 127 | |||
| Mallory Adams | 7th | 143' 3" | 3. Southeastern LA | 106 | |
| Jasmine Wyatt | 13th | 132' 7" | 4. Stephen F. Austin | 102 | |
| Ebonee Stephens | 14th | 123' 5" | 5. SAM HOUSTON | 80 | |
| Natalia Clark | 16th | 116' 1" | 6. McNeese St. | 64 | |
| 7. Northwestern St. | 62 | ||||
| HAMMER | 8. TX St-San Marcos | 60 | |||
| Natalia Clark | 6th | 158' 5" | 9. Lamar | 47 | |
| Jasmine Wyatt | 10th | 148' 2" | 10. TAMUCC | 43 | |
| Kim Olison | 11th | 148' 1" | |||
| Mallory Adams | 18th | 128' 10" | |||
| WOMEN'S STANDINGS | |||||
| 1. TX St-San Marcos | 177.5 | ||||
| 2. SAM HOUSTON | 124 | ||||
| 3. Stephen F. Austin | 123 | ||||
| 4. Texas-San Antonio | 93 | ||||
| 5. Lamar | 86 | ||||
| 6. Texas-Arlington | 71.5 | ||||
| 7. Southeastern LA | 56 | ||||
| 8. Northwestern St. | 42 | ||||
| 9. McNeese St. | 20 | ||||
| 10. Nicholls St. | 14 | ||||
| 11. TAMUCC | 11 | ||||
