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Track and Field: Rice to Host Bayou Classic
3/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
- Results
HOUSTON - The Rice men's and women's track and field teams will host the 19th annual Bayou Classic track meet this weekend at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium.
Competition begins on Friday at 2:30 with the high school boys and girls 4x100 meter relay. Among this year's competing high schools is last year's defending girls champion, Klein. The Bearkats totaled 92 points at the 2000 Bayou Classic, and will face 16 other girls high school programs, including The Woodlands, Dobie, La Marque and Kingwood. Last year's boys champion, Kingwood, will be joined by nine other high schools, including Deer Park, Hightower, Klein and Robert E. Lee. The Mustangs tallied 106 points to win last year's title, the first year in which the Bayou Classic accepted male entries. Previously, this event was the largest all-female track and field meet in the nation.
At the university level, the Rice men's and women's teams will face competition from Harvard, Islander Track, Stephen F. Austin and Texas-San Antonio. The SFA women edged out the Rice Owls last year, 152 points to 151, while the Lumberjack men took the title with 159 points to the Owls 154.
Rice opened the outdoor season last week at the Texas Southern Relays. Several Owls set personal bests early in the season. Senior Konnett Mays, of Roby (High), won the women's long jump title with a career best, and conference leading, leap of 19-04 3/4. Sophomore Elizabeth Hinshaw opened the outdoor season with a second-place finish in the pole vault. The walk-on from Missouri City (Elkins) is currently fourth in the WAC with her vault of 11-01 3/4. Freshman Shannon Murto, who helped lead the Owls to a second-place finish at the WAC cross country championships this fall, finished third last weekend in the 1,500 meters, her first race since the cross country season. Jessica Sommerfeld, a senior from Lisbon, N.D. (High) and the defending conference champion, won the shot put crown with a throw of 47-02 1/4.
Vaughn Walwyn, a sophomore from Houston (South), claimed the men's long jump title at the TSU relays with a jump of 24-07 1/4, the third best in the WAC this season. The Owls had a good showing last weekend in the 400 meter hurdles. Led by senior Rashad Stafford, who finished the lap in a league-leading 52.92, the Owls took third-, fourth- and fifth-place. Sophomore Frank Miller, Jr., and freshman Ben Wiggins were right behind Stafford, finishing in 55.36 and 55.77, respectively. Stafford also took second in the 110-meter hurdles.
Several Rice alumni will return to Houston for the meet, including Andrea Blackett and TaNisha Mills, two of the four members of the Owls all-America 4x400 relay squad who won the national title in 1997. Also returning is Sheila Madigan, a strong distance runner for the Owls from 1995-1998.
Running events begin on Friday with the preliminaries of the high school boys and girls 4x400 meter relay. Field events begin at noon with the university men's and women's hammer throw. Saturday's competition starts at 10 am with the finals of the high school 4x100 relays, and the university women's long jump, pole vault, and shot put.
