TicketsApril 11, 2009
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Day 1 of the 2009 Sea Ray Relays saw Antione Drakeford, Jasmine Cotten, Lilian Jelimo, and Troy Cooper register wins in the 400 meters, high jump, 5,000 meters, and shot put, respectively, while several other Bearcats finished in the Top 10 in their respective events.
In the 3,000-meters, junior Tamara Masters finished in eighth place, collecting a time of 10:17.81. In addition to Masters, sophomore Kaylon Eppinger clocked in at a personal-best time of 13.73 to finish fifth in the 100 hurdles. Cotten was not too far behind, finishing in seventh-place with a time of 13.99, before adding a first-place showing in the high jump with an impressive leap of 5' 10-1/2".
Freshman Aricka Rhodes led UC in the 400 meters with a time of 56.57, which was good enough for ninth place. Fellow freshman Kathy Klump registered a Top 10 showing in the 800 meters with a time of 2:10.40.
Adding to her 11th place finish in the 100 meters, sophomore Natasha Burse ran well in the 200 meters, crossing the line in a time of 24.42.
Jelimo continued her strong outdoor campaign with a win in the 5,000-meter invitational race. Jelimo bested the field by three-plus seconds with her time of 17:06.99. Finally on the women's side, sophomore Jill Glassmeyer led the Bearcats in the 10,000 meters with a third-place time of 36:36.24.
On the men's side, Drakeford continued his dominance in the 400 meters, finishing first with a time of 46.70. Drakeford's time was tops among 43 runners and he was the only 400 runner to break 47.0 seconds.
Freshman Terrence Somerville bested his top time in the 110 hurdles with a second-place time of 14.13, bettering his top time by one-tenth of a second. In the 400 hurdles, junior Jared Martin finished in eighth with a time of 54.27.
Arguably the best event of the day for the Bearcats was the men's 5,000 meter invitational, where freshman Eric Finan and senior Kyle Dragan led a 1-4 finish for the Bearcats. Finan's time was 14:23.38, while Dragan followed with 14:42.25.
In the finals of the men's open discus, Chris Littleton threw a sixth-place heave of 161' 05", while Bryan Hardesty finished ninth was a toss of 158' 09". Troy Cooper stole the show in the open shot put, throwing a first-place mark of 55' 5-3/4", which also is a NCAA regional qualifying mark.
The men's and women's high jump and men's pole vault have been added to the list of already scheduled events for Saturday, April 11.