SFA Track & Field Wins Four Individual Titles
3/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
March 22, 2003
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin men and women's track and field teams closed out the final day of competition at the Texas A&M Multis/Relays meet with a strong showing. The Ladyjacks brought home three individual titles and the men's squad added one.
SFA dominated the men and women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Sophomore Jessica Partin crossed the finish line with a school-record time of 11:48.56 to bring home the women's title. Junior Mike Thompson made it a sweep when he won the steeplechase with a time of 9:22.36. Thompson was followed by sophomore Clifton Tierney who finished fourth with a time of 10:01.42. Teammate Daniel Williams finished fifth with a time of 10:17.06.
Sophomore Ana Rodriguez paced the field in the women's 5,000-meters, setting a school-record with her time of 17:14.67 to win the event. The Ladyjacks other individual title came in the 4X400-meter relay (3:51.68).
Other Ladyjacks that had a solid start to the 2003 outdoor season were senior Jessica Claiborne, junior Blake Gordon, sophomore Jocelyn Stevens and freshman Kasie Query. Claiborne was fourth in both the long (18-6.50) and triple jumps (38-5.50). Gordon finished third in the shot put with her throw of 44-9.75. She also recorded a fifth-place finish in the discus with a throw of 141-07. Stevens had great day in the hurdles. She finished second in the 400-meter hurdles (1:02.32), just ahead of teammate Katie Lonergan (1:04.51). Stevens added a fifth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles (14.57) and a third-place finish in the high jump (5-5.00). Query continues to impress Ladyjack fans finishing fourth in the javelin with a school-record throw of 147-02.00. She followed that up with a third-place finish in the pole vault (11-0.25). Query's throw was also an NCAA Regional qualifying mark. Classmate Sarah Emerson also threw an NCAA Regional qualifying mark of 140-02. Emerson finished seventh overall in the javelin.
The Lumberjacks received strong showing from junior DeVaughn Rettig in the jumps. He recorded a third-place finish in the triple jump (47-1.75) and finished sixth in the long jump with his mark of 22-11.00. The Lumberjacks also had a good performance from junior Justin Meier and Nathan Flores in the 5,000 meters. Meier finished third (14:48.38) in the event, just ahead of Flores who recorded a time of 14:57.19.
The SFA track and field teams return to action Friday at the Rice Invitational. The meet will run through Saturday.
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