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UC Track & Field Opens Outdoor Season With Early Bird Relays

UC Track & Field Opens Outdoor Season With Early Bird RelaysUC Track & Field Opens Outdoor Season With Early Bird Relays

March 16, 2007

  • Meet Notes

    • FOR STARTERS:

    The outdoor track and field teams will open the 2007 season by hosting the Early Bird Relays on Saturday, March 17. The Bearcats will host athletes from 11 institutions in Gettler Stadium, with field events starting at 11 a.m.

    BEARCAT BITES:

    • UC is in its second season of competition in the BIG EAST Conference in 2007. The Bearcat men finished fifth at the 2006 BIG EAST Championships, while the women placed 13th. The conference features 16 men's and women's track & field teams, constituting the largest league in the nation. The 2006 BIG EAST Championships will be held on May 4-6 at the 's George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex.

    • The UC indoor track and field team finished 10th at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships.

    • Seniors Ashley Wilhelm (long jump, heptathlon), Renee Hein (javelin), Tara Meier (pole vault), and junior Birttany Klima (pole vault) are current school record holders.

    • Head men's coach Bill Schnier is in his 27th season at in such a capacity. Head women's coach Jim Schnur is in his 23rd year at and his seventh as head coach.

    LAST YEAR'S EARLY BIRD RELAYS:

    Both UC's men and women earned team titles at last season's Early Bird Relays. Junior Tara Meier broke the school's pole vault record, held by teammate Brittany Klima. Meier won the event, clearing 12' 0". One member each from the men's and women's teams met NCAA regional qualifying marks. and junior Renee Hein hit qualifying marks in the long jump (24' 1") and high jump (5' 8-3/4"), respectively, each winning that event. Senior Jenni Schmitmeyer swept the throwing events, winning the shot put (38' 8-3/4"), discus (138' 5") and hammer throw (135' 0"). Other UC winners included senior Jocelyn Gibson, who captured both the 800 (2:17.23) and 1,500 meter (4:48.40) runs. Senior Erin Leeper grabbed the 200 meter dash title in 25.05, and anchored championship 4x100 (48.87) and 4x400 (4:02.64) relay teams. The men won 17 of 18 events, as Xavier's Luke Beuerlein sped to a win in the 5,000 meter run.

    UC FINISHES 10TH AT BIG EAST INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:

    Seniors Renee Hein (high jump) and Tara Meier (pole vault) won conference titles in their respective events on the final day of competition at the 2007 BIG EAST Indoor Championships at the . The league crowns were the first BIG EAST Indoor titles for the Bearcats in their second year affiliated with the 16-team league. As a team, UC finished 10th after placing 14th at last year's championships. Hein, who led the nation for much of the season in the high jump, captured the second indoor conference title of her career with a BIG EAST Indoor Championships-record 6' 0-3/4" clearance. She also won the 2005 Conference indoor championship. She has automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in with a 6' 1-1/2" jump earlier this season. She has won the event at five of the six meets in which she has competed in 2007 and finished second in the other. Meier set a school record with a 12' 11-3/4" clearance in capturing her first league title. The mark is an NCAA provisional qualifier and is the top mark in the BIG EAST all season. Teammate Brittany Klima finished fourth in the vault with an 11' 9-3/4" clearance. Senior Shintara Carpenter, who holds the school record in the triple jump, finished 3rd in the event with a 39' 11-1/2" leap. The 4x400 meter relay team of Dennale Speakman, Ashley Arnold, Dominique Davis, and Courtney Wicks set a school record with a 3:48.25 mark, finishing eighth. Freshman Lilian Jelimo had a solid meet against some of the top distance runners in the nation. She finished 13th in the 5,000 meters in 17:23.94, just over a second behind the school-record time of 17:22.40, set in 2001 by P.J. Ball. Jelimo also finished 20th in the 3,000 meters with a personal-best 10:05.41. Another freshman, Ashley Arnold, shaved almost three-fourths of a second off her top time in the 400 meters, finishing 10th in prelims with a 57.02.

    BEARCATS TO HOST THREE MEETS IN 2007:

    UC will play host to three track meets at Gettler Stadium during the 2007 season. On March 17, will open the outdoor season by holding the Early Bird Relays, with the third annual Oliver Nikoloff Invitational to be held on April 7. The All-Ohio Championships, which attracts the finest competition in the state, will take place at Gettler Stadium on April 20-21.

    UP NEXT:

    The Bearcats will head to for the Alabama Relays on March 22-23.