April 4, 2009

Results

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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The University of Memphis track and field squad turned in an impressive performance from the Joey Haines Invitational track meet on Saturday including eight event championships and six NCAA regional qualifying marks.

"We finally had a meet with little sunshine and some warm weather we responded well to it as a team," said head coach Kevin Robinson. "I'm very proud of our team. They looked like a completely different bunch from the past two weeks. We performed at a much higher level."

On the track, junior transfer LaBritney Horton tied her season best by recording a 12.06 time in the 100m dash finals. Tayanna Simpson placed fourth in the 100m hurdles with a time of 15.01. She also earned a third-place finish in the 400m hurdles finishing in a time of 1:03.80. The women's 4x100m relay squad made up of Simpson, LaShundra Kershaw, Deneen Kirk and Horton placed fourth in a time of 47.60. The women's 4x400m relay with Vivian Haynes, Keyona Neal, Simpson and Holland Thomas took fourth with a time of 3:57.13.

Sophomore Inger Anne Froysedal took home the event title in the triple jump with an NCAA regional qualifying leap of 12.90m along with the Memphis school record. She also tied for third in the long jump with teammate freshman Kyosha Yarbrough at a distance of 5.81m. In the javelin throw, the Norwegian native placed second with a throw of 42.79m. The Lady Tigers took the top two spots in the women's shot put with senior Sivan Aballi leading the way with an NCAA regional qualifying mark of 15.16m. Teammate Marina Vojinovic also recorded a qualifying mark of 14.80m and finished in second place. Aballi also took fourth-place in the discus with a mark of 44.86m.

"Inger (Anne Froysedal) had the performance of the meet today," said Robinson. " Some of our athletes stepped up and did a really tremendous job for the team.

On the men's side, sophomore Edwin Kipkorir shined as he grabbed a pair of event title in the 1500m run with a personal record time of 3:59.65 and the 3000m steeplechase with a mark of 9:38.30. Sophomore Guy Hudson took fourth in the 800m run with a mark of 1:56.92. A pair of Tigers placed in the top-3 in the 110m hurdles including freshman Robert Jackson with a personal record time of 14.84 and sophomore Preston Williams who took third-place in a time of 15.39. Sophomore Richard Lowe recorded the 400m hurdle title and set a personal record time of 53.02. Sophomore Darius Anderson finished behind Lowe in fourth-place with a time of 55.52. The men's 4x400m relay team finished in fourth-place with a time of 3:17.96. The team included Lowe, Anderson, freshman Alex Sweet and Hudson.

"Aaron (Whetstone) and Edwin (Kipkorir) both did a great job today," said Robinson. I'm really proud of them and the effort they showed. They stepped up and really performed today."

In the field, Jerome Leslie placed third in the high jump with a height of 1.98m. Sophomore Aaron Whetstone recorded two NCAA regional qualifying marks and two second-place finishes with a leap of 7.50m in the long jump and 15.01m in the triple jump. Senior Christian McDonald grabbed the event title in the javelin and his first NCAA regional qualifying mark of the season by recording a mark of 62.80m. Competing unattached, Steffen Nerdal set a meet record and NCAA regional qualifying mark of 67.90m while teammate Knut Syverson who was also competing unattached recorded a second place finish in the shot put with a throw of 16.36m.

"I'm very excited for the upcoming meets," said Robinson. I thought our overall team effort was much better and I feel that we should be able to qualify more athletes for the NCAA regional meet very soon."

The Tigers compete again next Saturday, April 11 at the Ole Miss Invitational meet in Oxford, Mississippi.