TicketsJan. 30, 2010
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The University of Cincinnati men's and women's indoor track and field teams concluded the 2010 Rod McCravy Memorial hosted by the University of Kentucky on Saturday and had several standout performances. Senior Jasmine Cotten continued her impressive season with a win in the high jump, while sophomores Aricka Rhodes, Troy Cooper, and Jenna Heaton all registered personal records in their events.
"We stepped up to the level of competition," said head women's coach Susan Seaton. "We are looking sharp going into the championship portion of our schedule."
Cotten notched another NCAA provisional mark in the women's high jump with a leap of 5' 10" to finish in first place.
In a strong field filled with Southeastern Conference competition, Rhodes shined with a PR time of 55.72 in the 400 meters. The PR by Rhodes is the ninth-fastest indoor time in school history and she is now the third-fastest woman in Bearcats history in the 400 behind current teammate Ashley Arnold and former UC great and 2008 Olympian Mary Wineberg (Danner).
For the second week in a row, Somerville raced past the field in the preliminaries of the 60 hurdles with a time of 7.96 to qualify for the finals before notching a NCAA provisional time of 7.90 in the finals to win by .14 seconds. Somerville's time of 7.90 is his second-fastest time of his career.
In another strong field, Cooper threw an indoor PR of 56' 3", finishing fourth in the shot put. Cooper's throw ranks second on UC's all-time list behind Greg Weber's record of 56' 4" set in 1983. During the outdoor season last year, Cooper bested Weber's outdoor record by 1-1/4".
Heaton continued her progression in the 800 meters with another PR time of 2:14.81, besting her previous best set two weeks ago at the Akron Quad Meet by seven-tenths of a second. Heaton's mark moved her from ninth to sixth on UC's all-time Top-10 list.
Junior Natasha Burse put together an impressive pair of performances in the 60 meter dash and the 200 meters with season-best times in both events. Burse raced to a fifth-place finish in the 60 meters clocking in at 7.61 seconds, while being timed at 24.73 to finish seventh in the 200 meters. The 24.73 mark in the 200 is the fourth-fastest indoor time in program history.
In other events, freshmen Blake Moran and Shanay Portis placed seventh and eighth, respectively, in the men's and women's long jump with marks of 21' 11-3/4" and 18' 1-1/4". Sophomore Michael Rutherford led the Bearcats in the mile crossing the line in a time of 4:11.78, moving him into UC's all-time Top 10 list in the event.
UC's women's team is back in action Feb. 5-6, when it competes at the New Balance Invitational in New York, N.Y.