TicketsMay 24, 2007
IN THE STARTING BLOCKS:
Eleven of track and field student-athletes will compete in 10 events at the 2007 NCAA Mideast Regional Championships on May 25-26 at Audrey J. Walton Stadium in The of will host the two day event, welcoming nearly 900 student-athletes from 88 universities in 13 states, as they vie for a spot in the NCAA Championships in , in early June. The top five finishers in each event will earn a bid in the national championship meet, with an additional 5-8 student-athletes earning at-large berths.
BEARCAT BITES:
Eleven Bearcats qualified for regional competition: Renee Hein (high jump), Monica Hundley (100 hurdles), Brittany Klima (pole vault), Ashley Wilhelm (long jump), Justin Conway (4x100), Isaac Hendricks (4x100), Dayo Igeleke (200 meters, 4x100), Ian Jarman (hammer throw), Bob Kandell (400 meters, 4x100), Troy Lammers (400 hurdles), and Kevin Schwarz (3,000 steeplechase).
UC finished its second season of competition in the BIG EAST Conference in 2007. The Bearcat men finished ninth at the BIG EAST Championships, while the women placed eighth, a five spot improvement from 2006. The conference features 16 men's and women's track & field teams, constituting the largest league in the nation.
The Bearcats captured four BIG EAST Championships in 2007: Renee Hein (indoor high jump, outdoor high jump), Tara Meier (indoor pole vault) and Brittany Klima (outdoor pole vault). UC swept the indoor/outdoor high jump and pole vault titles.
The UC indoor track and field team finished 10th at the 2007 BIG EAST Indoor Championships, with Renee Hein (high jump) and Tara Meier (pole vault) grabbing individual titles.
The Bearcats appear 10 times in the national rankings. Renee Hein is the fifth-ranked high jumper in the nation with a 6' 0-3/4" clearance. Ashley Wilhelm is currently 16th in the heptathlon (5515), while ranking 60th in the country in the long jump (20' 2"). Brittany Klima is 45th in the pole vault (12' 9-1/2") and Monica Hundley is 72nd in the 100 hurdles (13.74). The men's 4x100 team ranks 32nd (40.15), Kevin Schwarz is 61st in the 3,000 steeple (9:01.47), Troy Lammers is 75th in the 400 hurdles (52.00), Bob Kandell is 99th in the 400 meters (47.16), Ian Jarman is 64th in the hammer throw (195' 5"), and Dayo Igeleke is 87th in the 200 meters (21.15).
Ashley Wilhelm met the NCAA `A' standard in the hepathlon with a 5515 mark at the Alabama Relays on March 23.
Seniors Ashley Wilhelm (long jump, heptathlon, javelin), Renee Hein (high jump), and Shintara Carpenter (triple jump) and juniors Brittany Klima (pole vault) and Monica Hundley (100 hurdles) 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.
2007 BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS:
The women's and men's teams finished eighth and ninth, respectively, at the 2007 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships, which wrapped up on Sunday, May 6, at the George L. Sherman Family Sports Complex on the campus of the University of Connecticut. UC's Renee Hein (high jump) and Brittany Klima (pole vault) each captured BIG EAST titles, leading the women to 46 points and a five-place improvement over the 2006 BIG EAST Championships. The men's team also posted 46 points. Hein, who also won the 2007 BIG EAST Indoor High Jump Championship, cleared 5' 11-1/4" to win her third career conference title. She also captured the 2005 Conference indoor title. The native and graduate has qualified for the NCAA Mid-East Regionals and will attempt to make her fourth trip to the NCAA Championships. No other female track and field athlete at UC has been to more than one. Hein was also fifth in the javelin with a 137' 9" throw. Klima, who broke her own school record for the third time this season, cleared 12' 9-1/2" in the pole vault to win her first conference title. She joins teammate Tara Meier, who won the 2007 BIG EAST indoor pole vault, in sweeping the indoor and outdoor pole vault. Meier finished fourth at the outdoor championships. Senior Ashley Wilhelm impressed as well, finishing third in the long jump (19' 9") and fourth in the heptathlon (5,409). Junior Monica Hundley sped to a school record in the 100 hurdles for the third straight week. She finished fourth in the prelims with a 13.74, more than two tenths faster than her previous personal best. She finished eighth in the finals with a 16.98. On the men's side, the championship was highlighted by a second-place finish by Troy Lammers in the 400 hurdles. His 52.00 bettered his regional qualifying mark and produced the best finish for UC. Dayo Igeleke, Ian Jarman and Andrew Smith placed third in the 100 meters, hammer throw and high jump, respectively. Igeleke just missed out on a regional mark with a 10.54 in the prelims. His 10.72 in the finals was good enough for third. Jarman bettered his regional mark with a 195' 5" heave, just over five feet short of the UC record. Smith cleared 6' 8-1/4" and moved up one spot after finishing fourth at last year's BIG EAST Championships.
WILHELM QUALIFIES FOR NCAA:
Senior Ashley Wilhelm met the NCAA automatic qualifying mark in the heptathlon, scoring 5515 points at the Alabama Relays and shattering her own school record by nearly 300 points. Within the heptathlon, she broke another school record, topping her own mark in the long jump with a 20' 2" leap. She bettered her own javelin mark with a 139' 2" heave in the heptathlon at the All-Ohio Championships. She finished third in the long jump at the BIG EAST Championships, while placing fourth in the heptathlon.
BEARCATS SHOW TEETH AT ALL-OHIO:
The Bearcat men and women both finished second at the 2007 All-Ohio Championships on April 20-21 at UC's Gettler Stadium. The meet was a huge success for both programs, as the teams combined for nine event titles and seven postseason qualifiers. Two women's school records were broken as Renee Hein earned the elusive outdoor high jump record with a 6' 0-3/4" clearance and Monica Hundley broke her own record in the 100 hurdles with a 14.08, which she has since improved to 13.74.
LIKE A BROKEN RECORD:
The women's squad has set six school records during the 2007 season.
Senior Ashley Wilhelm has set three school marks this season, all on the same day. At the Alabama Relays on March 22-23, Wilhelm shattered her own heptathlon record (5223) with a 5515, automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Within the heptathlon, the native scored another school record in the long jump (20' 2"). She also broke her own javelin mark with a 139' 2" throw at the All-Ohio Championships.
Senior Renee Hein topped 's school mark in the high jump, clearing 6' 0-3/4" at the All-Ohio Championships on April 21. Cofield held the mark since 2000 at 5' 11", and Hein has been consistently jumping 5' 10-3/4" since 2005.
Junior Brittany Klima broke her own mark in the pole vault, with a 12' 9-1/2' clearance at the BIG EAST Championships, winning the title. She had previously held the record with teammate and BIG EAST Indoor pole vault champion Tara Meier at 12' 5-1/2".
Junior Monica Hundley has improved throughout the season in the 100 hurdles after setting the school record in the 60-meter hurdles during the indoor season. She eclipsed Ashley Arnett's 14.14 set in 2003 with a 14.09 at the Southern Ohio Cup. She then followed that mark with a 14.08 at the All-Ohio Championships and her mark now sits at 13.74 after the BIG EAST Championships.
LAST YEAR'S REGIONALS:
Senior Chandler Groves qualified for the NCAA Championships at the Mid-East Regional Championships on May 26-27, 2006 at the Tom Black Track on the campus of the . Groves finished fifth in the long jump to move on to national competition. Groves, who finished third in the long jump at the BIG EAST Championships on May 5-7, leapt a season-best 25' 0", just 2-3/4" shy of his personal best. The BIG EAST Champion 4x100 team of Justin Conway, Cedric Powell, Bob Kandell, and John Bowie finished fourth in 40.16, but ran a blazing 40.08 in the preliminaries to break the school record (40.35), set in 2000. The squad finished one spot out of an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Championships, but will await the at-large announcements, which will be made next week. Bowie also competed in the 100 meters, finishing 20th in prelims in a season-best 10.45. Kandell placed 18th in the long jump, leaping 23' 11-1/2". Powell was 32nd in the 400 meter prelims, running a 48.52. Kevin Schwarz finished 15th in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, running a 9:09.81. Renee Hein, a 2005 NCAA qualifier, finished ninth in the high jump, clearing 5' 9-1/4", while record-holding pole vaulter Tara Meier (12' 0") finished 18th. Teammate and co-record-holder Brittany Klima failed to clear the initial height in the vault.
UP NEXT:
The NCAA Championships will take place June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif.