TicketsApril 2, 2011
CINCINNATI - Two days of competition wrapped up Saturday at the University of Cincinnati's Gettler Stadium with the completion of the Oliver Nikoloff Open track and field meet. Over course of the meet, two UC school records fell and both the men's and women's squads claimed the team titles.
UC distance runner Eric Finan began the editing of the record books when he set a new all-time best mark in the men's 10,000-meter run on Friday night, becoming the first Bearcat to record a sub-30-minute performance with a time of 29:37.29.
On Saturday, Natasha Burse bettered her own school-record mark in the women's 100-meter dash, lopping off two-hundreths of a second with a new record time of 11.65 seconds. Burse narrowly missed getting a second record on Saturday when she won the women's 200-meter dash with a time of 23.78, just .41 off Charlyn Ray's 2002 school record time of 23.37. Burse's big day also included running the second leg of the Bearcats' women's 4x100-meter relay team - with Cameron Gardner, Shanay Portis and Aricka Rhodes - which ran the third-fastest time in school history to win in 45.92.
In other results on the women's side, Portis and Gardner joined Burse in a 1-2-3 UC sweep in the women's 100-meters and Rhodes took sixth. The Bearcats also claimed four scoring spots in the women's 200-meters with Burse being joined by Rhodes finishing third place, Gardner fifth with her and Morgan Gordon sixth. Ashley Arnold was second and Alyssa Edley fourth in the women's 400-meters, Paris Campbell was second in the women's 100-meter hurdles and Sharika Thompson was sixth and Gabby Calderone seventh in the women's 400-meter hurdles. Calderon, Rhodes, Gordon and Arnold also teamed to win the women's 4x400-meters relay. Michele McKenney won the women's 10,000 meters on Friday evening.
In the women's field events, Michelle Eby, Sarah Rasnick and Mackenzie Fields went first-second-third in the women's pole vault, tying at 3.85 meters. The Bearcats would claim five scoring places in the pole vault with Kayla Dunn finishing fifth and Katherine Heinrichs sixth. Frida Akerstrom won the women's shot put with a throw of 14.64 meters and Jessica Cobb was third. The Bearcats swept the top three spots in the women's discus throw, with Jessica Molyet and Mary Bridges each setting season-best marks to finish first and second, respectively, and Bridget McNeill finishing third. McNeill would have a personal-best performance in the women's hammer throw, finishing third with a 50.71-meter effort. Bridges finished fifth in the women's javelin with her season-best throw of 32.09 meters.
In the heptathlon, Kaitlyn Good won the high jump, javelin throw, 800-meter run and finished second in the 100-meter dash to narrowly win by 43 points. Char Dixon placed fourth.
The UC women's team easily outdistanced second-place Dayton University and third-place Miami University for the team title.
"I'm very pleased with the team result," said UC women's head coach Susan Seaton. "We had a school record fall and several had PRs."
The Bearcats men's team finished 15 points ahead of Miami for the team title. BIG EAST rival Marquette University was third.
Three Bearcats notched team points in the men's 400-meters with Chase Van Cura finishing third, Darnell Gilbert seventh ad Brendon Lyshe eighth. UC also scored three in the men's 800 meters with Kyle Esber finishing third, Kyle Neyer fourth and Tony Williamson eighth. The Bearcats scored three in the 110-meter hurdles with Terence Somerville winning, Moore finishing third and Mario Cannon fifth. Somerville was second and Alex Howell fourth in the men's 400-meter hurdles. Oliver Book was fifth in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Michael Rutherford won the men's 1,500-meter run with a season-best time of 3:52.66. Darius Howard was seventh in the men's 100-meter dash.
In the relays, the UC men's 4x100-meter team of Howard, Van Cura, Dailyn Moore and Steven Mitchell finished first and the 4x400-meter team of Howell, Lyshe, Van Cura and Neyer was second.
In the field events, Josh Dangel was second in the pole vault and Andrew Risser fourth. Mike Foley was third in the high jump and also finished fourth in the long jump.
In the throws, Troy Cooper notched his season-best throw at 16.35 meters to finish second in the men's shot put. Cooper was fourth and Jake Haseman fifth in the men's discus throw. Brian Zimmerman finished third and Josh Ballendger fifth in the men's javelin throw. Haseman was eighth in the men's hammer throw.
In the decathlon, Kyle Kubera finished second and Nick Furney was fifth.
The Bearcats will be in action next weekend when they take part in the Miami University Invitational in Oxford, Ohio on Friday and Saturday.