TicketsFeb. 21, 2009
NEW YORK - The University of Cincinnati indoor track and field team sits in first place after day one of the BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships at the New Balance Track and Field Center at The Armory in New York City. Junior Jasmine Cotten shattered her own school record and finished in first-place in the pentathlon to lead the Bearcats in opening day of competition.
Cotten was the champion of the pentathlon with an NCAA-automatic qualification of 4,073 points. Cotten's performance shattered her own school-record, which was set a week ago at the All-Ohio Championships with a score of 3,958. Within the pentathlon, Cotten finished in first-place in the high jump after clearing a height of 5' 10 1/2", which is a NCAA-provisional qualifying mark.
Additionally, second through sixth place in the pentathlon all posted NCAA-provisional qualifications, with each athlete scoring above the mark of 3,700 points, which included sophomore Kaylon Eppinger. Eppinger collected a score of 3,717 points, which gave UC a sixth-place finish to accompany Cotten's top finish.
In the preliminaries of the 60-meter hurdles, Eppinger clocked a personal-best time of 8.50 seconds, which advanced her into the finals of the event on Sunday.
Sophomore Natasha Burse ran strong, but missed out on the finals of the 60 meter dash by one-tenth of a second after running a time of 7.59 seconds.
Junior Ashley Arnold continued her strong season in the 400 meters by advancing to tomorrow's finals with a time of 55.38 seconds. Arnold's time was the third-fastest time in the second of three heats in the event.
Freshman Michelle Eby, junior Kayla Dunn, and freshman Mackenzie Fields all finished in the Top 6 of the pole vault. Eby and Dunn finished in third- and fourth-place, respectively, after clearing 12' 07 1/2", and Fields notched a mark of 12' 03 1/2" to finish in sixth.
Cotten capped off a great day of competition with a fourth-place showing in the long jump. Cotten just missed breaking her own school record in the long jump after jumping 19' 08 1/4". In the opening meet of the season, Cotten jumped 19' 09" at the Indiana Open.
Cincinnati owns 32 points after day one and is followed by Louisville (29 points), and Notre Dame (28 points).
The Championships will conclude tomorrow, beginning at 8 a.m. ET. Tickets are available at the door. Fans can watch live online on BIGEAST.tv and follow along with live results at www.bigeast.org.