Women's Track: Three Set for Nationals
June 07, 2004 11:56 AM | General
June 7, 2004
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| Czaikowski | Kemp | Struyk |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Three West Virginia University athletes are set to compete in this year’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships taking place in Austin, Texas, June 9-12.
Juniors Jennifer Kemp and Tara Struyk are competing in the 800 and 10,000 respectively, while freshman Jessica Czaikowski was a late addition in the 100-meter hurdles. Czaikowski was added to the field of 28 when two other qualifiers pulled out of the event.
Both Kemp and Struyk are making their second appearances at outdoor nationals. Last year Kemp ran a personal best time of 2:05.09 in the 800-meter prelims to advance to the semifinals, while Struyk finished 14th in last year’s 10,000 with a time of 34:33.61.
Struyk is ranked 14th heading into NCAAs with a season-best time of 34:14.93. Stanford’s Alicia Craig is the top competitor in the 10,000 with a time of 32:19.97; she won last year’s race with a time of 32:40.03.
“She’s got a shot of getting into the top eight (to become an All-American),” said West Virginia coach Jeff Huntoon of Struyk. “She’s been lying low so to speak. She’s rested and fit and really nobody knows about her. Plus, she’s been there and she knows what it takes.”
Kemp’s best time of 2:06.21 places her 23rd out of 28 performers. The top runner in the 800 is LSU’s Neisha Bernard-Thomas with a time of 2:02.05.
Although Kemp probably would have qualified for nationals anyway, she made up a lot of ground two weeks ago at the East Regionals to finish fifth.
“When the gun went off she got a little surprised,” said Huntoon. “The girls went out a little harder than she thought and she was dead last. She ended up blowing past people to get to fifth place and automatically qualify. Being an automatic qualifier is a lot different than getting in on a timed basis. There’s a level of confidence there.”
Czaikowski is tied with Rice’s Funmi Jimoh for 27th with a time of 13.58 in the 100 hurdles. LSU’s Lolo Jones and Texas’ Nichole Denby are nation’s top two hurdlers with identical times of 12.78.
“It’s a wonderful surprise that Jessica qualified and it’s something I’m sure she’s going to make the best of,” said Huntoon. “There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s more fit right now than at anytime this year.”
Kemp is scheduled to run the 800-meter prelims Wednesday afternoon at 4:50 p.m., followed by Czaikowski in the 100-hurdle prelims at 5:55 p.m. Struyk will run the 10,000-meter finals Thursday evening at 9:25 p.m. All times are Central and are subject to change.
Competition concludes Saturday afternoon.
