Alabama's Beth Mallory Wins SEC Discus Championship
5/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field, Cross Country
At a very soggy Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Oxford, Miss., sophomore Beth Mallory became the first member of the Alabama women's team to win an individual SEC title since 2000.
Mallory posted a toss of 177 feet and 11 inches in the discus, nearly three feet better than second place. The Ohio native is the first Crimson Tide thrower to win the SEC discus title and the first field event athlete to win a conference championship since Safiya Ingram won the shot put at the 2000 Indoor championships. Mallory was fourth in the SEC Championships discus competition as a rookie.
In other action, sophomore Beau Walker is the top qualifier for tomorrow's 100-meter hurdles final. Walker posted a career best 13.08, which puts her second all-time for the Crimson Tide and just .05 off the school record set by Brandit Copper in 2000. Junior LaTasha Pharr also qualified for the finals in the 100m hurdles. Earlier in the day, Pharr took third in the finals of the long jump with a career best 20-03.50.
Walker started the day off by qualifying for the finals of the 400m hurdles with a 57.92. The 400m hurdles prelims were slated to run on Friday, but were postponed to Saturday afternoon due to inclement weather. Also qualifying for the 400m hurdles final was freshman Rachel Wilson, who ran a 1:02.18.
Sophomore Kou Lougon and junior Christy Fairley both qualified for the finals of the 400m dash with Lougon seeded seventh with a 54.42 while Fairley ran a career best 55.29 to grab, ninth, the last spot in finals.
The meet continues today and concludes Sunday.
