|
Ward Wins Women's Heptathlon At Conference USA Championships
May 14, 2004 Louisville, Ky. - Despite beginning the second day with a sluggish start, University of Houston All-American Krystal Ward won the women's heptathlon at the Conference USA Championships. Despite her struggles, Ward entered the final day as the overall leader with 3,083 points through the first four events. But, she began the second day falling back into fourth place when she scored just 601 points with a mark of 16'10¾" (5.15 meters) in the long jump. "I am not very consistent in the long jump, but I usually perform well in the javelin and 800 meters," Ward said. "I just told myself that I was going to have to go after it and that is what I did." Ward finished the competition with the best overall performances in the final two events. She scored 661 points with a throw of 130'2" in the javelin for 661 points. She completed the heptathlon with her personal best time of 2:19.64 in the 800-meter run. Ward ended the second day with 5,173 points to win her second Conference USA heptathlon title in three years. She won the 2002 title before sitting out last season with a broken right foot. Ashley Wilhelm of Cincinnati was the runner-up with 4,982 points and Louisville's Kelly Faber scored 4,896 points to finish in third place, while Victoria Crawford of Memphis finished in fourth place with 4,849 points. Houston's Nichole Brundage finished in eighth place with 4,553 points. Houston's Allie Booker was the runner-up in the women's discus with a personal best throw of 168'3" (51.28 meters) and teammate Laura Yelverton finished in fourth place with a throw of 152'3" (46.41).
"I was pleased that I could move up in the Conference USA standings and score more points for us in the team standings," Booker said. "I improved my personal best by eight feet and moved up from the third spot in the rankings before the meet into second place."
South Florida's Dayana Octavian set a second Conference USA record with a throw of 191'9" (58.44 meters). Tulane's Jelena Jurlina finished in third place with 160'5" (48.89 meters). Octavian also set a C-USA record in the women's hammer throw on Thursday. "Dayana is a tough competitor because you know she is going to get one off sometime during the meet," Booker added. "You just have to try to stay with her and not lose my composure." In the men's decathlon, Houston's Eric Matcek finished in sixth place with 6,031 points. Chris Wineberg of Cincinnati was the decathlon champion with 7,296 points and finished ahead of Ben Weber, who was the runner-up with 7,226 points. Johnathan Reeves was Houston's best performer in the men's throwing events as he placed second in the shot put with a mark of 56'6 ½" (17.23 meters). "I have been pretty consistent all year," Reeves said. "This has been sort of a rehab year for me after I had surgery (to repair torn ligaments in his right wrist) last summer. I have been progressing each meet this year. I would have liked to have set a new personal record, but I was happy to finish in second place." The remaining field events (men's long jump, women's pole vault and women's high jump) were postponed because steady rains throughout the remainder of the afternoon. The rains did not prevent the preliminary running events and the finals of the men's and women's steeplechase from being completed. The preliminary running events began with Houston's Sesar Figueroa qualifying for the finals of the men's 1500-meter run with a second-place finish in the first of two flights. Figueroa was the runner-up behind Szilard Toth of Memphis, who won the heat with a time of 3:57.99. Houston's Milton Manson won the first heat with a time of 14.18 seconds and Andrew Carruthers was the second-place finisher with a time of 14.21 seconds as they advanced to Saturday's final. Freshman Carey LaCour advanced to the finals of the men's 400 meters with the eighth-fastest time of 47.84 seconds. LaCour was the runner up in the second heat of the 400-meter prelims behind B.J. Henderson of East Carolina who had a time of 47.36 seconds. In the men's 100 meters, Stanford Routt, Preston Perry and Brandon Womack advanced to Saturday's final. Routt was the runner-up in the third heat behind TCU's Michael Frater. Frater had the second-fastest preliminary time of 10.47 seconds. TCU's Jabari Fields had the fastest preliminary time when he won the first heat in 10.31 seconds. Fields finished ahead of his teammate, Cleavon Dillon, who had a time of 10.54 seconds. Perry finished in third place with a time of 10.70 seconds and Womack was fourth in 10.72 seconds. In the preliminaries of the women's 400-meter dash, Keisha Howard won the first heat with the second-fastest prelim time of 54.40 seconds. Angel Dooley of Tulane was the runner-up in the heat with a time of 55.32 seconds and Houston's Renee Clarke finished third with a time of 55.75 seconds. Larissa Bakasa of TCU won the third heat with the fastest preliminary time of 53.79 seconds. In the women's 100-meter hurdles race, both of Houston's entries, Alicia Cave and Jaketa West advanced to the finals. Cave won the second heat with the fastest time in the prelims with 13.25 seconds. She will be trying to win her third straight C-USA championship in the 100-meter hurdles. The C-USA Indoor 60-meter hurdles champion MaKeatha Cooper of TCU won the first heat in 13.52 seconds. Theresa Smith of UAB was second with a time of 13.69 seconds and West was third in 14.17 seconds. Cave also won the first heat in the 400-meter hurdles to advance to the finals with the fastest preliminary time, 59.12 seconds. She will be trying to win her second C-USA championship in the 400-meter hurdles in the last three years. Two-time defending champion Andrew Carruthers and Sam Fobbs also advanced to the finals of the men's 400-meter hurdles. Carruthers won the first heat with the second-fastest prelim time 52.51 seconds. Fobbs was the runner-up in the first heat with a time of 53.23 seconds. Clarence Hartman of Cincinnati won the second heat in 54.35 seconds, while Nathaniel Garcia of TCU won the third heat with the fastest prelim time of 51.89 seconds. In the women's 200-meter dash, Houston's LaDedra Guy won the second heat with the fastest time in the prelims, 23.79 seconds. Keisha Howard had a second place finish in the fifth heat and advanced with a preliminary time of 24.47 seconds. The other finalists are TCU's Donita Harmon, Larissa Bakasa, Virgil Hodge and Kandis Bell, along with Angel Dooley of Tulane, Stephanie McCauley of UAB and Charlotte's Tempess Stark. Houston's Stanford Routt won the first heat in the men's 200-meter prelims with a time of 21.10 seconds. TCU's Jerry Harris won the second heat with the fastest prelim time in 20.84 seconds, while Jabari Fields of TCU won the third heat in 21.16 seconds and Houston's Carey LaCour won the fourth heat with 21.31 seconds. The day ended with Houston's Maurillio Sanchez finishing fourth in the men's steeplechase with a career-best time of 9:21.12. Mate Nemeth of Memphis won the steeplechase with a time of 9:14.96 and Sean Burris of South Florida was second in 9:17.23. Marquette's Jeremy Williams finished in third place with a time of 9:19.76. DePaul's Erin Moffett winning the women's steeplechase in 10:48.95. "I knew with the conditions as they were, I was going to have to run somewhere between 9:15 and 9:20 to earn a medal," Sanchez said. "I did a lot better than I thought I would because I wasn't expected to score. I had a chance to make a move in the final 300 meters, but I hit the last hurdle and fell down. Fortunately, I was able to make up some ground and finish in fourth place. Sanchez scored five points in the team standings for the Cougars, who enter Saturday's final day in seventh place with 15 points. Matcek and Reeves scored the other 10 points in the decathlon and shot put, respectively. The Lady Cougars enter the final day in second place in the women's team standings with 35 points. South Florida is the women's team leader with 38 points and Tulane is third with 34 points. Southern Miss is in fourth place with 31 points. |
ATHLETICS TICKET OFFICE
TICKET INFORMATION
ONLINE TICKET SALES
tickets@UH.edu
713-GO-COOGS (462-6647) 877-COUGAR-5 (268-4275) |
