CEDAR CITY, Utah - May 2 - Southern Utah track and field did not disappoint a home crowd in the first of two home meets for the Thunderbirds this season as SUU captured 13 individual titles at the SUU Invitational on Saturday afternoon. The performances were also highlighted by a total of 13 facility records and three new school records.
SUU's success on the women's side began in the sprints as senior Sharae Hill swept first-place finishes in the 100- and 200-meters. Hill narrowly missed a school record in the 100-meters, finishing the race in 12.03 (one one-hundredths of a second off the all-time mark), but bested the school record in the 200-meters with a finishing time of 24.11. Fellow sprinter Chelsea Allen made it a clean sweep for the T-Birds with a first-place finish in the women's 400-meters with a time of 56.74.
Sharla Manuele just missed a double dip in the distances, finishing second in the 800-meters (2:14.86). The junior used the performance to spring board herself to a first-place and school-record time in the women's 3,000-meters after cutting the tape at 10:14.59. Manuele broke her own school record that she had set at the SUU Invitational in 2007.
Diana Medina was the first collegiate across the line in the women's 1,500-meters as she finished the race in 4:43.71. Karinne Bentley, running unattached, won the race with a time of 4:41.93.
Jasmine Paicely (100-meter hurdles; 14.56) and the women's 4x100-meter relay team (46.66) wrapped up the first-place finishes for the women on the track.
Ashley Morrison picked up a pair of top-three finishes in the field events after a second-place mark of 45 feet .25 inches in the shot put and 185 feet six inch toss in the women's hammer to finish third. Amber Madril and Jacki Stoddard finished one-two in the javelin, throwing marks of 138 feet nine inches and 134 feet 11 inches, respectively.
On the men's side, Shaka Richardson and Austin Hill finished second in the men's 100- and 200-meters, respectively. Richardson crossed the line in the 100-meters in 10.85 with Hill's finishing in 21.60 in the 200. The second-place trend continued in the men's 400- and 800-meter races as Dallin Tavoian (49.54, 400m) and Nate Houle (1:52.36, 800m) each had to settle for silver. Cam Levins was just behind Houle in the 800-meters, finishing third (1:54.25), but came back later on in the night to capture first-place in the men's 3,000-meters with a school-record time of 8:31.55.
Dave Sheeran and Kevin Sandall finished first and second in the men's 1,500-meters with times of 3:57.80 and 3:58.42, respectively. Kodai Kusano helped the T-Birds sweep individual titles in the short hurdle events with a first-place finishing time of 14.79 in the men's 110-meter hurdles. SUU was also undefeated in the men's relays as the 4x100-meter relay team (41.59) and 4x400-meter relay team (3:15.17) finished first in their respective events.
In the field events, former SUU student-athlete Justin Allen met his own facility record after clearing the bar set at seven feet .5 inches to finish first in the high jump. Wade Nielson, Daney Nelson and Kyle Kopp finished second through fourth in the men's high jump after bounding 22 feet 4.5 inches for Nielson and Nelson and 22 feet 2.25 inches for Kopp.
Carlos Valle just missed a first-place finish in the men's shot put, throwing a personal-best of 53 feet 6.25 inches, but blew away the competition in the discus with a first-place mark of 184 feet nine inches. His toss in the discus was 30 feet farther than his closest competition.
Two more former student-athletes, Nate Ott and Greg Watson battled in the men's hammer throw as Ott finished first with a toss of 205 feet ten inches to Watson's second-place throw of 187 feet.
Southern Utah will have one more meet before hosting the 2009 Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Championships, May 14-16. The final warm-up for the Thunderbirds is slated for Mary 6 when SUU takes part in the Utah Twilight Meet in Salt Lake City.
Courtesy: TBD
