Women's Track: WVU Dominates State Farm Games
February 07, 2004 08:32 PM | General
February 7, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University women's track team steam rolled through the competition en route to seven event titles on Saturday, Feb. 7, in the State Farm Games at the WVU Shell Building.
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| Freshman Abbie Stechschulte competes in the hurdles at the 2004 State Farm Games in the WVU Shell Building. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Over the course of the weekend, a total of eight Mountaineers achieved personal bests. Aside from its seven event championships, West Virginia placed in the top five on nine different occasions. All of West Virginia's top finishes easily passed the mark necessary to qualify for the BIG EAST indoor championships.
All-American Megan Metcalfe finished in first place for the second week in a row. After setting a facilities record in the 1,000m run (2:46.78) in last week's Penn State National Open, the Edmonton, Alberta, native cruised to victory in the 3,000m with a time of 9:59.42. Fellow teammate Jennifer Davis finished right on Metcalfe's heels with a time of 10:01.79. Freshman Melinda BerryAnn cracked the top 10 as well with an eighth place finish and a time of 11:09.87.
Freshman Jessica Czaikowski seems to get better with each meet. The Tottenham, Ontario, native had her most impressive outing of the year on Saturday after winning two events and coming within three hundredths of a second of winning a third.
After finishing in first place in the preliminaries of the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.13, Pittsburgh's Fatmata Fofanah (7.94) captured the title by defeating Czaikowski (7.97) in the finals. Despite finishing second, the freshman's time of 7.97 was a personal best and just a tenth of a second off from NCAA qualifying standards. Czaikowski's two victories came in the 60m dash with another career best time of 7.66 and the 200m dash where she crossed the line in 25.71.
Finishing behind Czaikowski in the 60m dash was sophomore Junique Morris who finished second with a time of 7.90. Senior Ciara Chic rounded out the top three by crossing the line in 7.92.
In the mile, freshman Nicole Lemal achieved a career best time of 5:18.57 to propel her to a second place finish.
Another Mountaineer who achieved a career mark on the afternoon was freshman Halimah Bashir. The Willingboro, N.J., native captured first place in the 400m dash with a personal best time of 57.60. Junique Morris also placed in the top five with a fifth place finishing time of 59.75.
In the 800m dash, West Virginia placed three athletes in the top six. Junior Pam Richardson finished second (2:23.19), freshman Rhea Mann placed fourth (2:25.58) and sophomore Kenyetta Conway crossed the line in sixth (2:26.04).
Another West Virginia event title came in the 1,000m run where junior Jennifer Kemp took the lead in the final stretch to capture a thrilling first place finish and a time of 2:56.37. Sophomore Susan Davis also had a solid showing in the event with a fifth place finishing time of 3:02.27.
Three Mountaineers went on to achieve career bests in the weight throw. Sophomore Michelle McGinnis finished fourth with a throw of 14.17m, sophomore Elizabeth Hummel recorded a toss of 12.56m to finish seventh and freshman Julie Grove achieved a throw of 11.37m to place tenth.
West Virginia multi-event stars Abbie Stechschulte, Nancy Regalbuto and Mary Greene each sat out of the day's field events after competing in Friday's pentathlon. As a result, WVU's only other representative in that category was pole vaulter Mary Beth Held. The Vienna, W.Va, native placed fourth on Saturday with a mark of 3.30m.
West Virginia's 4x400m squad consisting of Halimah Bashir, Rhea Mann, Jennifer Kemp and Pam Richardson recorded the Mountaineer's final championship of the day when they took the 4x400m relay title with a finishing time of 3:56.94.
According to head coach Jeff Huntoon, today's performances have ensured that each athlete expected to be a factor in the conference has successfully qualified for the BIG EAST championships.
"The team seems to be rolling along just like I had hoped," Huntoon says jubilantly. "It feels like we have a head of steam rolling into the final week before the championship season. That's exactly how you plan it as a coach."
The Mountaineers have one meet remaining before they head to Syracuse, N.Y., for the BIG EAST indoor championships. West Virginia returns to the track for their final tune-up of the regular season on Friday, Feb. 13, and Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Challenge Cup in State College, Pa.
