Jan. 31, 2009

Results

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Memphis track and field team completed the final day of competition at the SIU McDonald's Invitational. In all, four men and three women recorded eight total first place performances at the meet in route to a 116 point men's and a 129 point women's second place finish.

"We had eight first place performances, so overall we had a pretty good showing, and the team performed better than last week," said head coach Kevin Robinson. "I'm still not happy with where the team is at yet. We're heading in the right direction, but this is not where I want us to be or where we should be."

Freshman Inger Anne Froyesdal put on a solid performance by taking home a pair of titles in the long jump with a leap of 5.71m (18-09.00) and also in the high jump with a height of 1.68m (5-06.00). She also recorded a third place in the triple jump with a distance of 11.74m (38-06.25).

"Inger (Anne Froyesdal) won 2 events and placed third in another," said Robinson. "She has come on as a freshman and had some strong performances already."

A pair of Tigers put up NCAA provisional marks including senior Steffen Nerdal in the weight throw with a toss of 20.29m (66-07.00) and senior Sivan Aballi with a mark of 15.59m (51-01.75) in the shot put.

"Women's shot putters were absolutely dominant today," said Robinson. "We had the top three spots and four out of the top-5 and Sivan (Aballi) again recorded a provisional mark."

On the men's side of the shot put, sophomore Knut Syversen also won the event with a toss of 16.45m (53-11.75).

The surprise performance of the meet was from sophomore Guy Hudson who prevailed in the 800m run with a first place time of 1:57.34.

"Guy (Hudson) won today in what was his best collegiate race of his life," said Robinson. "It came out of nowhere and he did a phenomenal job. He has always had the drive, motivation and talent to do it so we shouldn't be surprised, but this weekend, he stepped up and performed at another level. His hard work paid off and it couldn't have happened to a better guy.

Despite suffering a few scratches on some phenomenal leaps, sophomore Aaron Whetstone was still able to land a first place distance in the triple jump with a leap of 14.96m (49-01.00).

"Aaron (Whetstone) had some really large jumps that were fouls," said Robinson. "He's poised and ready though to jump really far."

Kicking off the meet yesterday, senior Whitney Bolton took home the pole vault event championship with a height of 3.65m (11-11.75).

Our veteran kids came into the season knowing they had to come through and they're doing a really good job stepping up," said Robinson. "The athletes we need to step up are beginning to do that and they are starting to prove that they can handle that role."

Next week on February 6-7, the Tigers travel to Lexington, Ky. to the Rod McCravy Invitational hosted by the University of Kentucky.