Women's Track Concludes Stay at Meyo Invitational
2/6/2010 12:00:00 AM
Feb. 6, 2010
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Senior Kim Laing found herself back atop the conference leader board in the 60m hurdles to lead the Alabama women's track and field team in the Meyo Invitational at the Loftus Center on Saturday.
"We had a lot of personal and season-bests, but along with that came a little bit of frustration," head coach Sandy Fowler said. "The ones that had gotten their best times in the past few weeks and not today were frustrated. I just told them they can change that and they have some control over that. It was good weekend though and exciting."
Laing held the fastest 60m hurdle time in the SEC up until last weekend, however, her provisional time of 8.35 en route to claiming the individual title, tied her back with the current conference leader.
Audra Frimpong just missed making the finals by .04 seconds, finishing 14th with a time of 8.91.
Sophomore Kelsey Johnson came just .81 seconds of a NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 3,000m run as she placed 14th with a career-best time of 9:32.81.
"One thing I look at is where these ladies were last year at this time and see where they are now," Fowler said. "Kim (Laing) is way ahead of where she was last year at this time. I think Kelsey (Johnson) will get the qualifying time later this year. I'm excited for her and she's ready to be a part of some big things in her career."
In the 60m dash, Heather Matherson tied her season-best with a time of 7.74 while Chealsea Taylor set a new career-best with a time of 7.76.
Taylor and Matherson came back in the 200m dash later in the day to set more season-best times. The duo finished sixth and seventh with times of 24.51 and 24.55, respectively.
Katlyn Will became the second Alabama performer to run a sub-five-minute mile this season as posted a season-best time of 4:59.02. Leigh Gilmore and Elsbeth Denton set career-best times of 5:01.31 and 5:04.62, respectively.
In the 400m dash, Talaya Owens sprinted to a time of 55.94 to finish 10th.
Freshman Wilamena Hopkins placed 11th in the shot put with a heave of 46-7 1/4.
Adding another season-best mark in this meet for the Tide was senior Katherine Strickland in the pole vault clearing 11-7 3/4.
The 4x400m relay team consisting of Talaya Owens, Chealsea Taylor, Kim Laing and Heather Matherson set a new season-best time of 3:49.88.
Up next for the Tide is the Texas A&M Challenge in College Station, Texas, on Feb. 12-13.
Players Mentioned
