April 26, 2009

Complete Results From 2009 SoCon Outdoor Championships

STATESBORO, Ga. ---- The Samford University track and field team completed competition in the Southern Conference Outdoor Championships Sunday as the men fell one spot to finish fourth while the women dropped a spot to sixth place. Eight freshmen earned All-Freshman honors while three Bulldogs earned All-SoCon honors in their respective events.

On day two, competition began with teams finishing the remaining events in the heptathlon and decathlon. Elyse Rippe was in 12th place after four events on Saturday and moved up one spot to 11th place to end the competition. Rippe finished first in the 800-meter event with a time of 2:25.16 while placing second in the javelin with a personal best of 91'08.00" and 12th in the long jump with a leap of 14'08.00".

Donald Cooper and Chas Keithan placed fourth and fifth in the decathlon after the final five events on Sunday. Cooper earned All-Freshman honors for his finish in the event. He was in first place after the first five events on Saturday while Keithan was in seventh place. Sunday, Keithan won the 1500-meter event (4:19.09) while Cooper placed third with a personal best of 4:45.88. Cooper finished third (16.54) and Keithan placed sixth (18.28) in the 110-meter hurdles while Keithan vaulted a personal best of 13'11.25" in the pole vault to tie for second and Cooper vaulted a personal best of 12'11.25" to place sixth.

In the decathlon discus throw, Keithan tossed a personal best of 106'11.00" to take third place while Cooper fouled, and Keithan placed fourth in the javelin with a throw of 153'06.00" while Cooper took seventh with a personal best of 132'11.00".

Also on Sunday, Ashley Dance placed sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.29. Cori Christensen finished seventh in the 800 meters with a time of 2:16.95 while Hillary Neal placed third in the 1500 meter run with a time of 4:38.56. Jessica Van Ausdall finished 14th (4:55.91) in the same event followed by Alli Keithan (5:09.76) and Brittney Harrison (5:19.57) in 19th and 23rd, respectively.

Andrea Seccafien won the 5000-meter run with a time of 17:57.96 and earned All-Freshman honors. Christy Myers also earned All-Freshman honors with her 10th place finish in the high jump (5'01.00").

Blaise Carie placed ninth in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:00.33 while Patrick Ollinger placed 16th with a time of 4:15.85. Joel Rogers ran a personal best time of 4:20.90 in the same event to finish 19th while Matt Bryson and Dall Hall finished 21st and 22nd, respectively.

Cavan Corcoran earned All-Freshman honors in the 110-meter hurdles with his third place finish in 14.93. He also placed eighth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 58.51 and received All-Freshman honors for that as well.

Cooper placed sixth in the high jump, earning All-Freshman honors with his jump of 6'05.00". Chris Davis placed eighth in the shot put with a toss of 145'02.25" while Ryan Fee placed 10th (131'00.00") and Kyle Kirby took 11th (127'11.00") in the discus.

Deanna Zidar, Christian McGuire and Thomas Oliver also earned All-Freshman honors. Zidar finished sixth in the 3000-meter steeplechase on Saturday and McGuire took fifth place in the javelin. Oliver placed second in the men's javelin.

Neal, Carie and Patrick Wells all earned All-SoCon honors on Saturday with their wins in the women's and men's 3000-meter steeplechase and the pole vault. The Samford women placed fifth in the 4x400-meter relay (3:51.34) and seventh in the 4x100-meter relay (49.71). The men placed fourth in the 4x400-meter relay (3:23.72) and seventh in the 4x100-meter relay (45.25).

Samford will be back in action in two weeks as it begins preparing for the NCAA Mideast Regional. The Bulldogs will head back to Oxford, Miss., Saturday, May 11, as they go to compete in the Ole Miss Invitational.