Feb. 7, 2009
Results
SEWANEE, Tenn. ---- Chinedu Amah set a school record in the triple jump Saturday at the Tiger Invitational in the first competition for the freshman this season. The Bulldog men took first place in the team competition while the women placed second at the meet hosted by Sewanee: The University of the South.
"I think we had another great meet and it shows that everyone is rounding into shape," Samford head coach Rod Tiffin said. "We are excited to have the help from Coach Sullivan's football guys and they have added a new aspect to our team. I really like where we are right now in our training and performance. I am really proud of our effort and the commitment of our athletes."
Amah charted a leap of 43'9" to take second place and break the school record for the triple jump which was previously set by Ty Weaver in 1993 (42'6). In the women's triple jump Morgan Tyler took second place with a new personal best of 38'10.5"
Tyler also took third place in the women's long jump with a leap of 17'11.50". Elyse Rippe placed seventh (16'00.75") and Christian McGuire placed 12th (15'1.50").
Three Samford men placed in the shot put competition as Kyle Brown (41'8.50") took second, Jason Gaines (36'5.75") took sixth and Kyle Kirby (35'9.25") took seventh. Brown also won the weight throw with a toss of 49'7" while Ryan Fee placed seventh with a throw of 41'11.25".
Donald Cooper was second in the high jump (6'5") while Chas Keithan (5'10") and Asa Ackerson (5'5.75") took sixth and seventh, respectively. Christy Myers placed second in the women's high jump with a leap of 4'11.75.
Mary Barron grabbed third place in the pole vault (10'6") while five Samford men placed in the men's pole vault competition. Patrick Wells (14'11") and Zac Epperson (14'11") tied for the top spot, with Epperson vaulting a personal best. David Polstra came in third (13'11.25"), Keithan ninth (12'11.50") and Donald Cooper (11'11.75") took 11th place.
In the running events, Tyler took third place in the 55-meter hurdles (8.72) while McGuire took fifth place (9.02). Cavan Corcoran placed third in the men's event running the course in eight seconds flat in the finals. Cooper just missed qualifying for the finals of the event by 17 tenths of a second with a time of 8.27.
Riley Hawkins earned fourth place in the men's 55-meter dash with a time of 6.62 while Mitch Galloway (53.86) and Jordan Cole (54.12) took fourth and fifth places, respectively in the men's 400-meter dash. Brian Post (56.91) took 12th place in that same event.
Sarah McGough (1:04.44) placed fourth in the women's 400-meter dash while Marissa Brokaw (2:24.06) placed third in the 800-meter run. Scott Cope (1:59.67) took second place in the men's 800-meter run while Will Denton (2:00.53) placed fourth.
"Our women's team was led by Hillary Neal and Morgan Tyler once again and the ladies' undersized group continues to impress me," Tiffin said. "We may not have big numbers on our women's team but we have had a lot of quality performances from the small group."
Neal (5:02.90) and Jessica Van Ausdall (5:12.07) took the top two spots in the women's mile. Neal's time made her an NCAA provisional qualifier while Van Ausdall's time was a personal best. Patrick Ollinger (4:33.29) placed fourth in the men's mile while Matt Bryson (4:46.30) placed tenth and Joel Rogers (4:52.79) took 13th place.
Three freshmen and a senior placed in the women's 3000-meters - Andrea Seccafien (10:38.28, 2nd), Deanna Zidar (11:09.05, 4th), Alli Keithan (12:07.14, 10th) and Katie Almand (11:39.81, 8th). Justin Rogers placed fourth in the m en's 3000-meters with a time of 9:22.51 while Ollinger placed sixth (9:27.98) and Jay Maservy placed 15th (9:52.37).
In the relays, the Samford women and men took second in the 4x400 while women to first and third and the men took first in the distance medley.
The Samford track and field teams will be back in action next weekend at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, S.C. The all day competition will be held at the Clemson Indoor Track and Field Complex.
