Tulsa
John McDonnell Invitational
Women's 4x400m Relay Team Wins John McDonnell Invitational
4/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
April 12, 2003
Fayetteville, Ark, - The University of Tulsa's women's 4x400-meter relay team won the John McDonnell Invitational on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark. The team improved on its previous season-best mark with a time of 3:38.07. It also broke its own school record of 3:39.91 which it had set at the Texas Relays.
Junior Shana Robinson also improved her regionally qualifying mark with a time of 11.48 in the 100-meter dash. Fellow Junior Chatney Noble qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional with a time of 54.58 in the 400-meter dash. Senior Jamese James also qualified for the regional in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.03. James is the second TU runner to qualify in two individual events, as she also qualified for the regional in the 400-meter hurdles.
The TU women posted 13 top-five finishes on the day.
On the men's side, nine Hurricane runners, one high jumper and one relay team posted season high marks.
Senior Derek Sparks was the top finisher for the Golden Hurricane. Sparks finished second in the unseeded 800-meter run with a time of 1:53.02. The men's 4x400-meter relay team also finished third with a time o 3:12.59.
Sophomore Michael Ledowsky posted a season best time of 22.47 in the 200-meter, along with fellow sophomores Josh Childs (21.94) and Jed Falkowski (22.54).
In addition to Sparks posting the best time for TU in the 800m, freshman Clif Mitchell also ran his best time of the season for the 800m with a mark of 1:53.34. Junior Owain Matthews bettered his season-high in the 1,500m run with a time of 3:50.58.
Juniors Ben Orozco and DeVonne Harrison posted season-best times in the 3,000m and 110m hurdles, respectively. Orozco finished second in the 3,000m with a time of 8:37.16. Harrison finished eighth in the 110m hurdle finale, but ran 14.52 in the prelims. Senior Branon Vaughan posted his season-best time for the 400m hurdles with a sixth place finish in a time of 52.68.
Junior Jason Krueger recorded a season best jump of 1.97m in the high jump, as well.
