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Track and Field Preview
1/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Jan. 14, 2010
Tulsa, Okla. - Tulsa is coming off of one of its best seasons in recent history and is poised to improve in 2010 as the Golden Hurricane returns three All-Americans, six NCAA Championship participants, six Conference USA Champions and 13 athletes that combined for 26 C-USA honors a year ago.
The men's team is led by All-Americans Mark Davidson (indoor mile) and John Beattie (cross country), as well as conference champion Justin Duncan (outdoor 1,500m). In total, the men's team welcomes back five conference champions and seven athletes that combined for 15 all-C-USA honors last year. The veteran squad will blend 17 letterwinners with 11 newcomers, including 10 true freshmen.
The women's team returns the only five-time All-American in school history, Alex Becker, and conference outdoor 400m champion Jennifer Mace. The Hurricane returns six all-conference performers and will look to mix 14 returning letterwinners with 11 newcomers for the 2010 campaign.
Sprints/Hurdles (Women)
Junior Jennifer Mace leads a group of runners that returns three of its top four performers from last season. Mace established herself as one of the best 400-meter runners in the nation in 2009, competing in the event at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships. She also won the C-USA Outdoor Championship in the 400m and placed second at the indoor conference meet. Last season, Mace broke the indoor school record in the 400m with a time of 53.66 and the 600-yard dash record with a mark of 1:21.58.
Senior Jessica Ford, junior Ashley Wills and sophomore Racquell Powell join Mace in a veteran group of sprinters. Wills was the team's second-fastest runner in the 200m (indoor and outdoor) and 400m (indoor and outdoor) last season. Ford, Mace and Wills were part of the 4x400 meter relay team that finished second at the C-USA Outdoor Championships, while Powell, Wills and Mace combined to place third in the 4x400m at the indoor conference meet.
Incoming freshmen Lenora Guion-Firmin and Caroline Schuster round out the group. Guion-Firmin was the French juniors champion in the 200m and 4x100m relay, while Schuster was a standout sprinter in Germany.
Middle Distance (Women)
Senior Tayler Rigsby heads a small but talented middle distance group. Rigsby finished sixth in the 800m at the C-USA Indoor Championships and placed seventh in the event at the league outdoor meet. As a sophomore, Rigsby competed in the 800m at the NCAA Midwest Regional after running a personal-best time of 2:08.23 during the 2008 season.
Senior Katie Wright looks to bounce back from an injury-plagued 2009 campaign, which saw her compete in only two meets during the indoor season and completely miss the outdoor season. Wright ran the team's fastest indoor mile time of 4:58.93 at the J.D. Martin Invitational. Sophomore Melanie Cleland placed eighth in the outdoor 1,500m at the C-USA Championships and owned the team's second-fastest time in the indoor mile (5:07.49) and outdoor 1,500m (4:37.17).
Distance (Women)
The distance group is once again the deepest on the team with 12 athletes, which includes four returning letterwinners. Senior Alex Becker leads the pack after turning in a record-setting 2009 outdoor season, in which she earned a pair of All-America honors, making her the only five-time All-American in TU history. Becker finished fifth in the 10,000m and sixth in the 5,000m at the NCAA Championships last season.
Becker also set a new school record in the 10,000m with a time of 33:44.63 at the Stanford Invitational, and placed second in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the C-USA Outdoor Championships.
Senior Lana Kelley posted the team's fastest time in the indoor 5,000m (18:16.26), second-fastest time in the outdoor 3,000m (10:12.10), and third-fastest times in the indoor mile (5:12.44) and outdoor 5,000m (18:01.00).
Melanie Cleland finished eighth in the 3,000m at the C-USA Indoor Championships and ran the team's fastest time in the indoor 3,000m (9:56.93) and second fastest mark in the outdoor 5,000m (17:08.32).
Junior Laura Englehutt returns to add veteran depth, while the Hurricane adds a wealth of new talent in freshmen Tricity Andrew, Laura Buck, Zoraya Hightower, Erin Huddleston, Sarah Macpherson, Jaclyn Rollins and Ashley Scott. Tulsa also adds junior transfer Paula Whiting from The University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Field (Women)
Senior Caitlin Clancy has established herself as one of the best pole vaulters in Conference USA with a third-place finish at the conference indoor meet and a fourth-place finish at the outdoor championships last season. For her career, Clancy is a three-time all-C-USA honoree and owns the school record in both the indoor and outdoor pole vault.
Junior Kelsey Klein set a new school record in the hammer throw with a toss of 53.49m (175-06) at the C-USA Outdoor Championships, finishing seventh overall. Klein also posted the team's top marks in the indoor shot put (38-01.25), weight throw (54-10-.75), discus (143-06) and hammer throw (175-06).
Tulsa also returns senior thrower Morgan Bolom and junior Brianna Steel, who will participate in jumping and throwing events this season.
Multi-Events (Women)
Junior Brianna Steel is back after a solid 2009 season, in which she finished sixth in the pentathlon (3,262) at the C-USA Indoor Championships, and placed six in heptathlon (4,483) at the conference outdoor meet.
This season, Steel will be joined by a pair of talented incoming freshmen in Lydia Chamberlin and Carolin Imhof. Chamberlin set a personal-best of 5,063 points in the heptathlon at Sheffield Hallam University in Sixhills, United Kingdom, and Imhof earned a career best of 4,549 points at Sportgymnasium Jena High School in Jena, Germany.
Sprints/Hurdles (Men)
Senior Attila Korosi is the lone upperclassman in a group of young and talented sprinters, which includes two sophomores and three incoming freshmen. Korosi finished sixth in the 400m and eighth in the 200m at the C-USA Indoor Championships. He also set a personal-best time of 48.14 in the indoor 400m at the Tyson Invitational.
Sophomore Justin Smith returns after a solid freshman season where he placed seventh in the 400m at the C-USA Outdoor Championships and eighth in the event at the conference indoor meet. Smith posted the team's fastest time in the outdoor 400m (48.85) and the second-fastest mark in the indoor 400m (49.34). Sophomore David Fitter ran the squad's second-best time in the indoor 200m (22.34) and outdoor 400m (50.11), while also competing in the indoor 60m hurdles and outdoor 400m hurdles.
The group brings in three true freshmen in Julian Frazier, Matt Davis and Alex Sementelli. Frazier was a seven-time All-Southwest Preparatory Conference champion at Holland Hall High School in Tulsa, Okla., while Davis and Sementelli were accomplished prep sprinters in the state of Texas.
Middle Distance (Men)
Junior Mark Davidson earned All-America honors after finishing eighth in the mile-run at the NCAA Indoor Championships last season. Davidson was also named the C-USA Male Indoor Track Athlete of the Year after claiming the conference championship in the mile and 3,000m events.
The Toronto, Ontario native set a pair of school records in the mile (3:59.97) and 1,000m (2:26.81) during the indoor season, and posted the team's season-best times in the 1,500m (3:44.62) and 3,000m (8:24.98) during the outdoor campaign.
Junior Justin Duncan made an immediate impact in his first season with the Hurricane, winning the conference title in the outdoor 1,500m and placing fourth in the event at the NCAA Midwest Regional. His finish at regionals earned him a spot to compete in the 1,500m at the NCAA Championships, where he ran a personal-best time of 3:45.91 in the semifinal round.
Sophomores Bill Martin and Sam Masters also competed in the 800m, 1,500m and mile-run for the men's squad last season.
Distance (Men)
The distance group will once again be the strength of the men's team with the return of five all-conference performers, including three conference champions. Senior John Beattie captured two C-USA titles in the indoor 5,000m and outdoor 10,000m, while finishing as the runner-up in the outdoor 5,000m. Last year, he also set school records in the indoor 5,000m (14:10.55), outdoor 5,000m (13:57.63) and outdoor 10,000m (28:46.27).
The Southampton, England, native just completed another very successful cross country campaign this past fall, in which he won his second consecutive Conference USA Individual Championship, and earned all-C-USA First Team, All-Midwest Region Team and C-USA Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year honors.
Junior Mark Davidson won the 3,000m title at the C-USA Indoor Championships and posted the team's fastest time of 8:03.81 at the Tyson Invitational. Senior Kyle Dekker finished runner-up to Beattie in the 5,000m at the conference indoor meet, and placed third in the 10,000m at the C-USA Outdoor Championships. Senior Lewis Timmins was a third-place finisher in the mile and the 3,000m at the C-USA indoors, and ran the team's second-fastest time in the outdoor 5,000m (14:03.33). Timmins also competed in the 5,000m at regionals, placing 15th overall.
Field (Men)
Junior Casey Fanning is the only returning letterwinner from a year ago, which saw the Dodge City Community College transfer place ninth in the javelin with a personal best mark of 53.05m (174-00) at the C-USA Championships.
Fanning is joined by incoming freshman Corwin Dugan, who was the Oklahoma Class 6A State runner-up in the shot put during his junior season at Sapulpa High School.
