Albury Wins the Shot Put, Tide Finishes Sixth
5/15/2006 12:00:00 AM
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.??The Alabama women wrapped up the SEC Championship late Sunday night in Fayetteville with their highest finish since the 2001 season and the most points scored since winning the SEC Championship in the1994 season. The Tide finished in sixth place with 72.5 points.
“We had a great meet, we competed well.” Alabama head coach Sandy Fowler said. “We did what we could on a given day and as long as we can walk away and know in our hearts that we did the best we could, then we did good. The girls laid it on the line.”
Aymara Albury and Tahesia Harrigan highlighted the day for the Tide.
Albury broke her own school record with a mark of 56’1.25” in winning the SEC crown. The win gives Albury a sweep of the SEC shot put titles this year. Albury won the SEC Indoor shot put crown in February.
“I’m really excited because I wanted to PR which I haven’t done in two years,” Albury said. “I normally throw bad in the cold, but I think a lot of it was I had a goal and wanted to achieve it. I really wanted to be a double winner (also won indoors) and did that.”
Fowler was excited for Albury.
“Aymara was really excited to win,” Fowler said. “It meant a lot to her to hit a personal best, which just happens to be the school record and the Bahamian national record.”
Also in the shot, Beth Mallory took fifth place with a throw of 49’3.75”, giving her 22 points for the meet, the second most of any individual competitor.
Tahesia Harrigan had a great day for Alabama, setting two personal bests. Harrigan set a personal best in the 100m final with a time of 11.13 seconds, just two-hundredths of a second shy of the school record and the eighth fastest time in the world this year in finishing fourth place. Harrigan also sprinted to a 23.23 in the 200m dash to finish sixth in the event.
Harrigan also anchored the Tide’s 4x100m relay squad combining with Chealsea Taylor, Kou Luogon and Rachel Wilson and for a seventh place finish time of 45.22.
The 4x100 was just the beginning of a busy day for Luogon. Luogon ran a personal best 52.61 in the 400m dash to place third. Luogon and Wilson finished seventh and eighth, respectively in the 400m hurdles with times of 1:02.14 and 1:03.94. Luogon added a 15th place leap of 37’9.5”.
Also scoring for Alabama, LaTasha Pharr picked up a fifth place finish in the 100m hurdles with a season best 13.26 and Miruna Mataoanu placed eighth in the triple jump with a season best 40’6”.
In the distance races, Julia Hicks ran a time of 4:33.33 to finish ninth in the 1,500m final and ran 17:25.71.
The Tide has next weekend off in preparation for the Mideast Regionals in Knoxville, Tenn. on May 26-27.
SEC Championship Final Standings
1. Georgia 136
2. Auburn 135
3. S. Carolina 86.5
4. LSU 81
5. Tennessee 78
6. Alabama 72.5
7. Arkansas 68
8. Kentucky 45
9. Florida 38
10.Vanderbilt 28
11.Miss. St. 27
12.Ole Miss 24
