Track and Field: Stadel, Jimoh, Daniels Win At WAC
5/13/2005
2005 WAC Shot Put Champion Luke Stadel |
TULSA, Okla. ? Rice juniors Luke Stadel and Funmi Jimoh and freshman Marissa Daniels all won gold on Friday to lead Rice at the 2005 Western Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Track and Field Championships in Tulsa, Okla.
Stadel won the shot put on his final throw of the day, uncorking a personal-best heave of 58-3 (17.73m). The mark was an improvement of almost two feet on his previous high and was over two and a half feet better than second place.
Jimoh also recorded a personal best on her way to gold, recording a leap of 20-8.5 (6.31m) in the long jump. She finished with a five-inch lead after already qualifying for the finals in the 100-meter hurdles with the third-fastest time of the day (14.03).
Daniels finished 34 seconds ahead of the field in the 10,000 meters, posting a 35:34.41 for the gold medal. She was joined in scoring for the Owls by Susie Barrows, Laura Kelly, and Malin Fuglesang. Barrows and Kelly finished four-five, while Fuglesang checked in at seventh. The distance squad amassed 21 points in the race to boost the Owls to first place after the first day with 46 points.
Also for the women, Sarah Yoder won the silver medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and qualified for the regional championships with her time of 10:36.77. She was joined by Laura Kelly, who finished seventh, in scoring for Rice. Flo Nwagwu cleared a career-best 5-10 (1.78m) in the high jump to place fourth and regionally qualify.
In addition to Stadel's big throw, freshman Tyler Whitham tied for third in the pole vault with a career best of 15-1 (4.60m) and qualified for the finals in the 110-meter hurdles the day after winning the silver in the decathlon. Also for the men, David Axel placed third in the steeplechase with his time of 9:12.64. Jason Powell added to the Rice scoring with his sixth-place finish in the long jump.
After six events, the Rice men are in second place with 45.50 points.
The WAC championships conclude on Saturday, beginning early with the weather delayed men's 10,000 meters at 8:30 am. The field events get underway at 1:30 pm with the women's hammer and the running finals begin at 6:30 pm, starting with the 4x100-meter relay. |
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