May 13, 2012

C-USA Outdoor Final Results

NEW ORLEANS, La.- Tiger track and field squads wrapped up competition at the 2012 Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday at Tad Gormley Stadium. Memphis men took fifth overall, while the women placed eighth after three days in the Big Easy.

"All in all, I feel we have had a very good season." said head coach Kevin Robinson. "Now, we must refocus our energies into preparing our qualifying athletes for the NCAA preliminary. We will know on Wednesday who is accepted."

Kyle Bynum took gold and netted the men's squad 10 points in the javelin with a school-record throw of 70.27m (230'6"). The record setting performance surpassed the school's previous mark set by Christian McDonald in 2008 of 64.90m (212'11"). Bynum's throw also qualifies the freshman for the U. S. Olympic Trials and NCAA East Preliminary.

Teammates Casey Carl (58.60m, 192'3", five points), Thomas Poole (55.50m, 182'1", three points) and Marc Klaschka (54.22m, 177'11", one point.) finished fourth, sixth and eighth, scoring nine more points. The women's squad picked up six points in the javelin. Xenia Rahn took fifth place with a toss of 42.44m (139'3") adding four, while Anna-Maria Bischof took seventh landing at 41.07m (134'9") reeling in two.

Sophmore Laura Toldy picked up six points for the women in the high jump. Toldy cleared 1.76m (5'9.25") to take Bronze. Fellow jumpers Kirsten Berding (1.70m, 5'7") and Vivian Haynes (1.65m, 5'5") took sixth and tied for seventh respectively.

The points kept rolling in for the men in the pole vault. Sophomore Austin Crenshaw took gold with a new personal-record clearing 5.23m (17'1.75") picking up 10 points. Senior Karlis Pujats took silver at a height of 5.13m (16'10") racking up eight points. Freshman Tim Jones added one more point taking eighth place at 4.43m (14'6.25").

Senior Robert Jackson won his third straight C-USA men's 110m hurdle title taking gold with a time of 14.06, collecting 10 team points. Freshman Tyrelle Forde (14.85) reeled in two more points in the same event with a seventh place finish. Brandon Williams (51.59) took silver grabbing eight points in the 400m hurdles. Teammate Ojike Maat (53.85) took fifth place for four points.

Freshman Fabian Fiege (1:49.83) took bronze in the 800m run grabbing six points Fellow distance runner James Maglasang tallied four points in the men's 1,500m run crossing the line in fifth place at 3:53.63.

Jackson, Williams, Maat and Tevin Jones teamed up in the 4 x 100m relay taking sixth place with a time of 42.56 and notching three more points for the men. Maat, Williams, Fiege and Abdi Guleed later added three more points in the 4 x 400m relay taking sixth with a time of 3:16.51.

"This meet was an emotional roller coaster." said Robinson. "The men spent most of the last day in the lead, only to drop to fifth in the last couple of events. We had a lot of momentum from the javelin and pole vault, but could not close out the meet as strong. Finishing ten points out of second is heartbreaking for all of us."

Maya Williamson (59.66) took fourth garnering four points for the women. In the women's 400m dash Kala Funderburk (53.99) placed fourth grabbing four points. Funderburk, Williamson, Monica Mason and Keyona Neal took third in the women's 4 x 400m relay with a time of 3:37.57 picking up six points.

"As for the women, I feel that we are a much better team than we displayed." said Robinson. "I think our youth was a little bit more evident under the pressure of this championship. This women's team is the best we have had in years, maybe ever. We just need to show a little more composure under pressure, and we will be much more competitive."

Overall the women's squad tallied 55 points, with the men scoring 122. For more information on Memphis track and field and all Tigers-athletics please visit GoTigersGo.com.