TicketsFeb. 20, 2010
NEW YORK CITY - The University of Cincinnati women's indoor track and field team had two school-record fall and two athletes register personal-records as the Bearcats sit in fourth place after six events with 22 points after Day 1 of the 2010 BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships at The Armory in New York City.
"It was a rollercoaster of a day," said head coach Susan Seaton. "We had some great surprises and some rough spots as well. Overall, the team competed with tenacity and our athletes tried their hardest and we're looking forward to coming back tomorrow and doing the same."
Entering the 800 meters with the 23rd-best time in the BIG EAST, sophomore Jenna Heaton ran her best race of the season by setting a new personal-best and breaking the school record in the event with a time of 2:11.20. Heaton's mark was nearly three seconds faster than her previous PR and she finished fourth in her heat and qualified seventh overall to advance to the finals on Sunday.
UC's strongest event of the day was the pole vault as Cincinnati had three athletes place in the Top 8 led by sophomore Michelle Eby. Eby placed second with a personal-best clearance of 12' 11" and attempted to tie the school record at 13' 3-1/2", but fell just shy. Seniors Stefanie Ponte and Kayla Dunn both recorded heights of 12' 3" to finish fifth and sixth, respectively, which is a season-best for Dunn and a PR for Ponte. The pole vault trio scored 15 points for the Bearcats.
Senior Jasmine Cotten got off to a great start in the pentathlon sitting 20 points behind first place in the event after the 60 hurdles, the high jump, and the shot put. Cotten placed third in the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.73, before placing first among pentathlon competitors in the high jump with a leap of 5' 9-3/4". In the long jump portion of the pentathlon, Cotten battled a nagging injury that resulted in her falling down the standings, but Cotten battled through the injury in the 800 meters and finished in seventh place, scoring two points for the Bearcats.
Still fighting through the injury, Cotten bounced back in the long jump with a leap of 19' 8" to place fourth, tacking five more points onto the Bearcats score.
Sophomore Aricka Rhodes ran her second fastest time of the year in the preliminaries of the 400 meters to finish in fourth place among all competitors. Rhodes' time of 55.85 advanced her to Sunday's final where she will run in the opening heat.
Finally, the women's distance medley quartet of Jenny Harsh, Ashley Arnold, Kathy Klump, and Jocelyn McCauley set a new school record with a mark of 11:58.45. Harsh started the race off with a 3:45.00 split in the 1,200 meters, before Arnold and Klump clocked in at 56.00 in the 400 meters and 2:12.60 in the 800 meters, respectively, leaving the rest of the race to McCauley. McCauley closed out the race with a 5:04.60 in the mile.
UC returns to the track on Sunday, Feb. 21, when Cotten competes in the high jump at 9 a.m. Also competing on Sunday will be Catherine Earl in the shot put (12:30 p.m.), Heaton in the 800 m (11:40 a.m.), Rhodes in the 400 m (1:20 p.m.), and UC's 4x800 relay (2:35 p.m.) and 4x400 relay (2:55 p.m.).