Feb. 24, 2007

C-USA Indoor Championship Results
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HOUSTON - Gail Lee and Glen Edwards helped Memphis sweep the shot put events Saturday at the Conference USA Indoor Championships at the University of Houston's Youman Fieldhouse where the Tiger and Lady Tiger teams posted fourth and fifth-place finishes respectively.

The meet was a resounding success for the Memphis program, particularly on the women's side where the Lady Tigers more than doubled their point total from a year ago and moved up from a ninth to fifth-place finish.

In all seven school records were broken, with six of those coming on the women's side. With Glen Edwards' win, Memphis also continues its dominance in the men's indoor shot put, capturing its third straight C-USA title in the event.

"On the women's side I really thought we performed as well as we could," said Memphis head coach Kevin Robinson. "This was obviously a huge jump for us, scoring 78 points, which is the most we've ever scored at a Conference USA meet.

"I thought the men performed really well too. They scored well and tied for fourth. We're a really young team on the men's side, and I think we're going to get a lot better. I think the outdoor season adds a lot of strong events for the men's team, so I'm excited for the future."

Lee's throw of 56-1.75 in the women's shot put smashed the C-USA record of 50-4.75 by nearly six-feet. The distance broke her own school record and personal best of 55-3, but more importantly it automatically qualified the senior for her second NCAA Indoor Championships.

It was Lee's second C-USA crown of the weekend, the third indoor title of her career and her fourth C-USA title overall. The Fort Worth, Texas native has now passed former Lady Tiger Lisa-Marie Hyman for the most individual conference championships in the history of the women's program.

In total, three Lady Tigers scored in the shot put. Sivan Aballi finished in second-place behind Lee and senior Nikole Jackson finished sixth.

Edwards was competing in his first C-USA Championships after transferring to Memphis in the fall from Barton Community College. Edwards was able to record a distance of 55-4.75, five inches better than second place competitor Luke Stadal of Rice.

Greg Norrid finished in sixth-place in the shot with a throw of 52-11, and Norbert Gulyas rounding out the Tiger's scoring in seventh-place.

In the women's pole-vault freshman Ashton Baldwin and sophomore Whitney Bolton continue to try to one up each other. After both athletes broke the school record last weekend at the Redhawk Invitational, the pair reset their own record Saturday, clearing a height of 11-7.75.

Freshman Tina Sherratt scored in two events, finishing fourth in the mile with a school record time of 4:56.19 and coming in seventh in the 800 meters.

After finishing third in the women's 5000 meters Friday, sophomore Emily Malinowski finished in second-place in the 3000 meters Saturday with a new personal best of 9:51.37.

On the men's side several Tiger competitors turned in top performances and came up with critical scores.

Germantown native Jason Morgan broke his own school record in the heptathlon with 4728 points, which was good enough for a sixth-place finish.

Amaechi Oselukwue set a new personal best in the 60-meter hurdles, turning in a time of 8.21 for a third-place finish. Tigers Larry Harris and Stephon Greenlee also scored in the event, running 8.28 and 8.38 respectively.

Senior Brandon Winbush tied his collegiate-indoor best in the triple jump with a distance of 47-11 and finished second in the event.

Lee will compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 9. Memphis will open its outdoor season at Rhodes on March 17.