Outdoor track begins with record-setting weekends
As the saying goes, everything's bigger in Texas. Even track meets. Last weekend, the women's track team competed in the 83rd-annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, the second-largest track meet in the nation, behind only the historic Penn Relays in size.
Senior Britany Williams led Rice's effort, placing second overall in the women's 1500-meter run with 4 minutes 26.48 seconds, a lifetime best. Senior Shakera Reece also posted an impressive time, 11.61, in the 100-meter dash, earning her a season-best time and fifth place. Junior Kimberly Stanford posted a lifetime-best time in the sprint hurdles, 13.93. Additionally, in the distance medley relay, the team of sophomores Sophie Peeters and Marie Thompson, freshman Lilian Nwora and senior Vicki Walker placed sixth overall with a time of 11:57.13.
According to Williams, the team wanted to represent Rice well at the meet.
"I wanted to at least do well in front of a big crowd because it's always good to have Rice's name out there and have people see it," Williams said. "I see it as a way that we have to show face. It's like a show and you have to play your part and that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to place well in my meet."
On March 26-27, the track team hosted and competed in the Victor Lopez Classic, Rice's first home meet this season which is named for former 26-year women's track head coach. This meet was also the first to use the new track surface and facility. After being under construction last semester, the track was completed in time for training for indoor track to begin.
Head Coach Jim Bevan felt the meet went well.
"We had two nice days and a chance to fully compete as a team," Bevan said. "We had victories by throwers and distance runners. . We got a lot of positive remarks on the facility. It was the largest attendance we've ever had and I think it will continue to grow."
Junior Ari Ince performed well throughout the weekend, earning a first-place finish in the javelin and a second-place finish in the pole vault. In the javelin, Ince threw for 139' 9", a lifetime best. In the pole vault, her height of 12' 11.5" earned her a lifetime best.
The success in field events continued for Rice, as senior Katie Dollinger won the hammer throw with a lifetime best, tossing for 165' 5". Junior Tina Robinson placed third overall in the hammer at 163' 7".
Junior Tiffany Gill earned a lifetime best in the high jump, placing sixth overall with a mark of 5' 5".
Freshman Sojourner Brown finished 2nd overall in the 400-meter hurdles at 61.81, a time strong enough to qualify her for the national list.
In distance events, Williams again found success as she broke the school record of 16:20.95 in the 5000 meters set by Callie Wells (Sid Richardson '09) last season, finishing in 16:19.
For Williams, her performance in the 5,000 is sure to be the high point of this season.
"It'll be hard for this season to top that," Williams said. "That was one of my goals going into the season: to PR [earn a personal record], go to Nationals and break the school record."
In another meet highlight, Thompson ran the 10,000 meters for the first time and placed second overall for Rice. Her time, 36:09, was good enough to place her on the national list as well. Freshman Halsey Fowler was also introduced to the steeplechase, running the event for the first time and finishing as the first collegian behind unattached Rice graduate Lennie Waite (Brown, '08). Fowler finished in 11:01.26.
The widespread participation at the Victor Lopez Classic allowed the track team to get into the midseason rhythm, according to Bevan.
"We needed to get started and we had a good start at home meet," Bevan said. "It's that time of year where we're running enough races without the newness of competition so there are no big shocks and we're just trying to improve marks."
This weekend, the team is traveling to El Paso for the University of Texas-El Paso Invitational.
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