April 5, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. ---- Freshman Bulldog Hillary Neal set a new Samford record in the women's 800-meters race Saturday at the Gem of the Hills Invitational host by Jacksonville State. Neal's time of 2:11.05 earned her first place in the event and helped her lead the Samford women to a second place overall finish. The Samford men placed third overall.

In field events, Kyle Brown set a new personal best in the hammer throw with a distance of 130'05", earning him second place. Brown beat the personal record that he set last week at the Alabama Relays by just over 18 feet. Ryan Fee took fifth place in the same event with a throw of 111'09". Fee also earned seventh place in the discus throw (118'03") followed by Brown at ninth place (108'10"). Brown also won the men's javelin with a throw of 147'07".

Jessica Lucas placed seventh in the women's hammer throw with a toss of 106'03" and second in the javelin with a throw of 97'08". Ciara Floyd earned second place in the long jump with a leap of 18'00.25", and Morgan Tyler won the women's triple jump with a jump of 37'05.75". Mary Barron earned second place in the pole vault with a vault of 10'06.00" while Zac Epperson took third in the men's event with a vault of 13'11.25".

Patrick Ollinger highlighted the men's running events, setting a new personal best and taking sixth in the 1500-meters with a time of 4:07.60. Michael Schwartz followed right behind in seventh (4:08.13) and Chas Keithan came in 15th (4:13.19). Michael Smith took second place in the men's 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.98 and first place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.97. Alex Gainous placed third in the 100-meter dash while Scott Buess took sixth in the same event. Gainous also took second in the 200-meter dash while Buess took tenth. Bo Brawner took second in the 5000-meters, running the event in 15:25.55, with Cameron Bean just behind him in third at 15:44.30.

Following Neal in the women's 800-meters was Elyse Rippe, earning fifth place with a time of 2:24.74. Van Ausdall and Almaguer took 12th and 13th places, respectively in that event as well. Britney Almaguer placed second in the women's 1500-meters with a time of 4:48.65 while Jessica Van Ausdall grabbed sixth (5:00.69) and Jessica Gurley came in 13th (5:12.53). Lauren Pilcher took third in the women's 5000-meters with a time of 18:55.92.

Katie Almand took third in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 12:33.74 and Tyler and Floyd placed third and sixth, respectively, in the 100-meter hurdles. Tyler also took second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:03.06 and Kady Decker came in fifth in the same event with a time of 1:06.31. Ashley Flowers grabbed second place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.74 with Ashley Dance coming in at fifth (58.66) and Sarah McGough at 13th (1:01.12). Dance also took ninth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.37.

In the relays, the Samford women took seventh in the 4x100 (49.18) and first in the 4x400 (3:54.18) while the men took fifth in the 4x400 with a time of 3:27.69.

Next up for Samford is the Sea Rays Invitational hosted by the University of Tennessee next Friday, April 11. The Bulldogs will then head to Oxford, Miss., to participate in the Ole Miss Invitational on Saturday, April 12.