Sunday, May 7
Storrs, Conn.
tba
Syracuse University
Women - Third
at
Men - 11th
BIG EAST Championship
Johvonne Hernandez picked up her fifth career Most Outstanding Field Performer award.
Women Finish Third, Men 11th At BIG EAST Championship; Three School Records Fall
5/7/2006 5:39:23 PM | Track and Field
STORRS, Conn. – The Syracuse women’s track and field team finished third with 87 points at the BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championship this weekend at the George J. Sherman – Family Complex at the University of Connecticut. It is the best finish for the women in 16 years. Senior Johvonne Hernandez (Port Isabel, Texas) earned her second outdoor Most Outstanding Field Performer award, sharing with Georgetown's Buky Bamigboye, after a first place and two second place finishes. She also won the honor at the indoor championship earlier this season. The men finished 11th with 31 points. Freshman Nana Sang-Bender (Syracuse, N.Y.) and sophomore Jillian Drouin (Corunna, Ontario) both topped their own SU records in the 1500m and heptathlon, respectively, and junior Sheron Mark (Diego Martin, Trinidad) broke the Orange record in the triple jump.
The women’s finish is the best since 1990 when the squad also placed third. Its best finish in history is second, which it did three times in 1985, 1987, and 1988.
Hernandez shared the Most Outstanding Field Performer crown with Georgetown's Buky Bamigboye, who broke the meet record in the heptathlon. Hernandez earned her fifth Most Outstanding Field Performer award in her career after she won the shot put for the second time with a throw of 15.44m. She also finished second in the discus and the hammer with marks of 50.43m and 58.04m, respectively. She is the only Orange student-athlete in history to win two of these awards in the outdoor season. In indoor, she is the only SU student-athlete to win three Most Outstanding Field Performer awards.
Sang-Bender broke her own Syracuse 1500m record by placing sixth at 4:28.03. She cracked the record at Carolina Fast Times earlier in the season by clocking in at 4:28.78. Prior to this season, Beth Burchill’s mark of 4:31.76 had stood since 1988.
Drouin and Kaity Lambracht (Whitehouse Station, N.J.) finished second and third in the heptathlon, respectively, and both topped the Syracuse record which Drouin set earlier in the season. Drouin totaled a school-record 5287 points and Lambracht finished with 5095 points to finish behind her. Drouin had set the SU record earlier in the season at the Hurricane Invitational.
Drouin also placed fourth in the high jump with an NCAA Regional qualifying mark of 1.75m.
Mark earned second place in the triple jump with a SU record leap of 12.99m. She beat Aprelle Watkins’ 2002 record by 3.25 inches.
Pittsburgh won the women’s title with 117 points and Notre Dame finished second with 106.50 points. On the men’s side, the Irish won with 132 points and newcomer Louisville was second with 125 points. Connecticut rounded out the top three with 103 points.
Mark and senior Tatiana Warren (Brooklyn, N.Y.) were impressive in the long jump and triple jump as they finished second and third, respectively, in both events. Mark recorded a long jump of 6.04m and Warren finished right behind her with a leap of 5.96m. Warren finished third in the triple jump at 12.69m. Both of Mark’s leaps were NCAA Regional qualifying marks.
Junior Kyra James (Danbury, Conn.) placed sixth in the shot put for the Orange with a throw of 13.55m and sophomore Liz Cufari (Pittsford, N.Y.) finished fifth in the 10,000m with a time of 36:09.58. Freshman Lauren McClenney (Ellicott City, Md.) finished seventh in the 400m hurdles at 1:02.87 and the 4x800m relay team also placed seventh with a time of 9:15.82.
For the men, junior Dan Pribula (Strongsville, Ohio) was the highest finisher as he placed second in the shot put with a mark of 16.50m. Senior Chris Telesford (Brooklyn, N.Y.) placed third in the triple jump with a leap of 14.67m. Freshman Terry Marshall (St. Michael, Barbados) placed fifth in the 400m hurdles by clocking in at 52.70 seconds. The 4x100m relay team placed sixth at 42.07 seconds and sophomore Marcus Vaughn (North Attleboro, Mass.) finished eighth in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.64 seconds.
In the decathlon, junior Jake Palas (Asheville, N.C.) finished with 6369 points to place fourth and senior Craig Stivala (Colts Neck, N.J.) finished in seventh with 6307 points. Junior David Wishart (Winnetka, Ill.) finished eighth in the 10,000m by clocking in at 31:23.19 and senior Brien Flewelling (Unity, Maine) placed eighth in the high jump by clearing 1.94m.
Both the men and the women are back in action next weekend at the ECAC/IC4A Championship in Princeton, N.J.
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