February 10, 2003

Written by: Michelle Astacio, Sports Information Student Assistant

The University of Texas at Arlington men's and women's track and field teams both brought home several top ten finishes from the Red Raider Invitational Friday.

Senior Chad Polk (Dallas) finished first in the 800-meter with a time of 1:53.07. Polk was the only member of the men's team to come home with a first place finish this weekend. Polk finished fourth at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships last season with a time of 1:54.17.

Sophomore Paul Whitty (London, Ontario, Canada) finished third in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.48, after running a 7.60 in the preliminaries. Whitty also finished fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.03.

Junior Josh Rosenthal (Carthage) finished sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.34.

Freshman Davis Tagi (Nakuru, Kenya) finished third in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:57.58.

On the women's side, sophomore Kristina Bird (Keller) had one of the two first place finishes for the women's team after finishing first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:19.14. She was closely followed by teammates Miranda Zuniga(Diana), who finished second with a time of 2:19.30, and Ivorita Taylor (St. Elizabeth, Jamaica), who finished third with a time of 2:19.86. Freshman Nicole Noel (Lewisville) was close behind, finishing fifth with a time of 2:20.37.

Senior Rukaiya Holland (Houston) placed first in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.98. Holland also finished sixth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.14. In field events she jumped 17-08.625 in the long jump to finish ninth.

Sophomore Shaniqua White (Killeen) finished third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.52. She also finished ninth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.39.

The Mavericks will return to action on Friday, Feb. 14, as they head to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Tyson Invitational hosted by The University of Arkansas.

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