April 9, 2011

Complete Results

OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Memphis track and field team traveled to the Ole Miss Invite, Saturday, for a one-day meet packed with personal- and season-best performances.

The Tiger throwers, which had been struggling in the absence of senior All-American Knut Syversen, had enormous days in Oxford. Sophomore Andrew Miller won the shot put, his second victory of the season, with a personal-best 16.31m (53’ 6.25”) toss.

Sophomore Savvas Arestis continued what has been a strong first season in the discus for the Tigers; his 54.14m (177-07) throw was runner-up in Oxford, behind only Southern Illinois’ Jake Deiters whose 54.88m toss most likely put him in the top-10 nationally; Arestis was 11th in the nation entering the weekend.

Two Tiger newcomers placed exceptionally high in the javelin; freshman Austin Crenshaw was third with a 54.19m (177’ 9”) mark, while sophomore transfer Casey Carl was sixth with a 53.28m (174’ 10”) toss.

Freshman Anna Bischof had a strong day on the women’s side; she finished fourth in the discus (44.60m; 146’ 4”) and sixth in the shot put (13.71m; 44’ 8”) on the day.

Senior Marina Vojinovic was fifth in the shot at 14.07m (46’ 2”).

Both men’s and women’s hurdles squads had strong performances. Junior Tayanna Simpson was third in the 100m hurdles (13.76) and fourth in the 400 meter event (1:02.50), marking her fourth meet in a row finishing top-five in both hurdles events.

Senior Richard Lowe set a season-best in the 400m hurdles with a 52.02 mark, finishing third. That mark improves his standing nationally and would place him among the top-20 in the nation entering the weekend.

Junior Robert Jackson was sixth in the 110m men’s hurdles with a 14.35 mark.

The sprints and middle distances were well-run on Saturday. Senior Guy Hudson was third in the 800m run with a 1:54.40 mark.

Senior LaShundra Kershaw was runner-up in the 100m dash with an 11.55 mark, her season’s best. It’s less than two-tenths of a second behind Wanda Hooker’s school-record 11.40 mark, set in 1978.

Although Karlis Pujats no-heighted, teammate Nate Arnold was fourth in the pole vault with a career-best 4.75m (15’ 7”) mark.

The jumpers had a good weekend, led by senior Jerome Leslie. Leslie was fifth in the triple jump with a 15.21m (49’ 11”) mark, and had a seventh-place showing in the high jump (1.98m; 6’ 6”). Freshman Darius Lynwood had the same mark but finished sixth via jump-off.

In the women’s high jump, sophomore Kirsten Berding was third with a 1.68m (5’ 6”) mark.

The Tigers will be back at full strength, next weekend, at the Auburn Invite, hosted by the University of Auburn.