Women's Track Concludes Day Two of NCAA Championships
6/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Alabama women's track and field team concluded the second day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships being hosted by the University of Arkansas at John McDonnell Field on Thursday.
The heptathletes duo of Chealsea Taylor and Rachel Robbs got their events underway early Thursday afternoon. The athlete's first event of seven was the 100 meter hurdles in which Taylor finished 18th with a time of 14.17 while Robbs followed in 26th crossing the line in 14.78.
In the high jump, Taylor jumped from 18th to seventh in the standings after clearing 5-8 3/4 to tie for fifth in the event. Robbs also made an improvement from 26th to 24th after tying for 17th and clearing a height of 5-4 1/4.
Robbs rose two more spots in the rankings to 22nd after placing 10th in the shot put with her heave of 38-11 1/2. Taylor, however, lost a few spots as she fell to 12th overall after finishing 15th with a mark of 36-7 3/4.
The final heptathlon event of the day was the 200 meters where Taylor struggled against a headwind of -3.1 crossing the line with a time of 24.91 in 14th place. Robbs posted a 25th place finish and a time of 26.60.
After day one of the heptathlon, Taylor is 11th with 3,371 points and Robbs is 25th with 3,040 points. Nia Ali of Southern California leads the field with 3,663 points. Three events (long jump, javelin, 800 meters) remain for Friday.
"Well the heptathletes both have tomorrow to go and Chealsea is 11th place which means she has a definite possibility to make All-American," head coach Sandy Fowler said. "I'd certainly like to see her do that. That'd be an awesome feat especially your first year ever doing the event. For Rachel [Robbs], I think she struggled a little bit in a couple of events, but the experience she's gaining for being here as a freshman speaks for itself."
Drawing a heat including the No. 1, 8 and 9 hurdlers in the nation, Laing finished 23rd overall with a time of 13.96, failing to advance to the semi-final round thus bringing an end to her 2009 campaign.
"Kim [Laing] had a tough day and I'd be crazy to say anything else," Fowler said. "She had some trouble out of the blocks and didn't really get out as fast as she does. She's usually like a little rocket coming out and I would say she's frustrated by that. Kim's had a great season though and not even by a little bit. She's run personal bests two or three times this year and she was on the right track."
The Crimson Tide will return for the conclusion of the heptathlon on Friday at 1:45 p.m. It will be the last event for Alabama this season.
Players Mentioned
