Indoor Track and Field Shines on Day 1 of Gladstein Invitational

Indoor Track and Field Shines on Day 1 of Gladstein InvitationalIndoor Track and Field Shines on Day 1 of Gladstein Invitational

Jan. 22, 2010

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - On Day 1 of the Gladstein Invitational, the University of Cincinnati men's and women's indoor track and field teams shined in all phases leading to personal bests and BIG EAST qualifying marks.

Competing in their first event of the season, sophomores Terence Somerville and Eric Finan put on a show in their respective events. Somerville flew past the field in the preliminaries of the 60 hurdles clocking in at a personal-best time of 7.87. Somerville's time is the eighth-fastest time in UC history and the fourth-fastest mark in the NCAA this season.

On the heels of a tremendous cross country campaign, Finan placed first in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:20.36. Considering it is Finan's first meet of the indoor campaign, his run was the third-fastest time in program history, approximately one second off UC's school-record in the event.

On the women's side, all three runners competing in the 5,000 meters punched their ticket to New York City for the conference meet with BIG EAST qualifying marks. Tamara Masters finished in second place with a personal-best time of 17:25.47, while Lilian Jelimo and Jocelyn McCauley were not far behind with times of 17:27. 68 and 17:33.35, respectively.

UC had also great performances in the women's 60 meters and the men's 400 invitational and 400. All four Bearcat athletes that ran in the women's 60 meters advanced to Saturday's finals led by junior Natasha Burse's leading mark of 7.69. Moving on with Burse were freshman Shanay Portis, sophomore Paris Campbell, and freshman Anastasia Tarpeh, who are seeded 11th, 12th, and 16th, respectively. Campbell also advanced to the finals of the 60 hurdles with her second-best career time of 8.82.

The men's team had four freshmen compete in both the 400 invitational and 400 meters, with all rookies breaking 52.00. In his first collegiate race, Maurice Norman ran a great race and finished his lap around the track in 49.08 seconds placing him second in the 400 invitational. In the 400 meters, Norman's fellow classmates in Ethan Freet, Brendon Lyshe, and Alex Howell all finished in the Top 11 of 24 runners.

In other events, Michele McKenney ran a PR time (10:38.31) in the 3,000 meters finishing fourth, while both Anthony Chandler and Mario Cannon advanced to the finals of the 60 meters with times of 7.04 and 7.19, respectively.

Day 2 of the Gladstein Invitational resumes at 10 a.m. for combined events and 11 a.m. for regular competition.