Tide Track and Field Concludes Regular Season
5/4/2008 12:00:00 AM
May 4, 2008
OXFORD, Miss. - The Alabama men's and women's track and field team completed its last meet of the regular season by competing at the Mississippi Open. Both squads recorded more regional qualifying marks as the SEC Championships quickly approaches.
Distance aces Augustus Maiyo and Tyson David concluded their regular season at the Prayton Jordan Invitational on the Stanford track. Maiyo ran the fourth fastest time in school history in the steeple with a finish of 8:35.36, just off his All-American best time. David ran the fifth fastest 5000 in school history with a finish of 13:53.67. Both times are regional qualifiers.
In the sprint events the duo of Talaya Owens and Heather Matherson placed sixth and seventh in the 100 with times of 12.08 and 12.10, respectively. Owens came back in the 200 to place seventh with a time of 24.21. Trish Bartholomew placed fifth in the 400 with a time of 53.31.
Betty Rotich paced the women's distance squad with a fifth place finish in the 1500, turning in a time of 4:33.06. For the men, Titus Koeh placed fourth in the same event with a time of 3:58.69. Koeh also placed ninth in the 800 with a time of 1:55.94.
In the steeplechase the Tide showed its strength by finishing 1-2 on the women's side. Julia Hicks completed the race first overall with a time of 11:01.83 while Ashley Ard followed with a time of 11:55.30. For the men, Abraham Kutingala placed second overall with a time of 9:06.66.
Megan Williams turned in a ninth place finish in the 5000 meters with a time of 19:34.82. Paul Guevara and Joe Purpura finished sixth and eighth in the event with times of 15:02.87 and 15:09.01, respectively.
In the hurdles, Antoine Fant placed sixth in the highs with a time of 14.40. Talaya Owens raced to a regional qualifying mark in the 400 hurdles by placing second overall with a personal best time of 58.10. The relays featured two second place finishes for the Tide. The women's 4x100 crossed the line with a near qualifying time of 45.76. The men's 4x400 relay squad turned in a time of 3:12.35 to also place second.
The field events proved to show strength for Alabama. In the high jump Tyler Boswell placed third overall with a leap of 6-08.75. In the pole vault, Lynda Cooper finished second with a mark of 12-01.50 while Katherine Strickland cleared 11-01.75 to place sixth overall. The men's duo of Brandon Schneider and Michael Hughes placed 3-4, respectively in the pole vault with clearances of 15-07.00.
In the throwing events, Jessica Hand placed seventh in the discus with a toss of 124-08. Angelica Howard finished eighth in the shot put with a heave of 47-10.00. Elizabeth Wilson placed seventh in the hammer throw with a mark of 159-04 while Howard closely followed in eighth with a mark of 152-00.
Meghan Austin led the charge for the Tide in the javelin with a throw of 145-02 to finish fourth overall. On the men's side, Trevor Denkers placed seventh with a throw of 190-04. Peter Voorhees and Justin Trawick cracked the top-10 with a ninth and tenth place finish, respectively with throws of 188-01 and 185-01.
Next week, the teams will train for the SEC Championships, slated to begin on Thursday, May 15, at the Hutsell-Rosen Track on the Auburn campus.
