Feb. 16, 2007
HOUSTON, Texas - Sophomore high jumper Stacey Bennett cleared a height of 5-feet, 7.25-inches to take second place and claim her first all-Southland Conference honor on the opening day of the 2007 Southland Conference Indoor Track Championship at the Bill Yeoman Fieldhouse on the University of Houston campus Friday.
UT Arlington sits in fifth place with 24 points, one behind Texas-San Antonio in the team standings. Stephen F. Austin, looking to claim their third straight women's team title, leads after the opening day with 56 points. Texas State and Sam Houston State are tied for second place with 42 points. UTSA (25), UT Arlington (24), Lamar (23), Southeastern Louisiana (12), Nicholls State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3 points each) and McNeese State and Northwestern State (2 points) round out the standings.
Ida Landgraff clocked the fastest mile run in the prelims with a 5:15.75. Sophomore Caroline Erlingson advanced to the finals with a qualifying time of 5:22.42.
Carranda Mose, who finished second in the 800 last indoor to Maverick Ivorita Taylor, clocked the fastest time in the 800 meter prelims with a 2:17.34. Landgraff also advanced to the finals with a 2:22.48.
UTA has three runners who qualified for Saturday's 200-meter finals. Jasmine Walls had the second fastest prelim time with a 25.01. Jones (3rd/25.10) and Rash (8th/25.42) are also competing in the finals.
Freshman Antonia Hopkins advacned to the 400-meter finals after the third fastest time of 57.17.
Landgraff skipped the distance medley relay late Friday as the Mavs, who had clocked a 12:10.90 two weeks ago on the same track at the Houston Invitational, ran a 12:45.43 for seventh place.
Junior Jodi Hulett, battling flu-like symptoms, finished fifth in the 5,000 meters with a 17:48.41. She is expected to compete in the 3,000 meters on Saturday.
"Jodi may have the biggest heart of any athlete at UTA," said UT Arlington Head Track and Field Coach Johng Sauerhage, "She ran with a 102-degree temperature today because she wants to win and wanted to help her team."
It was a disappointing day for Jones, a senior from Abilene. She clocked the sixth fastest time in the semifinals of the 60-meter dash but failed to advance to Saturday's final. The top four runners in each heat advances to the finals and Jones was in the faster heat where she finished fifth. Teammates Jasmine Walls (7.71) and Shana Rash (7.79) advanced to Saturday's final.
Senior Linda Rosema had a throw of 52-04.50 in the 35-pound weight throw for seventh place.
In the long jump, Angela Gonzales just missed all-SLC honors with a fourth-place finish after a career-best leap of 18-09.75 Latasha Watson had her best jump of the indoor season with an 18-05.75 for sixth place.
The meet continues Saturday with the final three events of the men's heptathlon. Field events begin at 11 a.m. and the running finals are slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. The Mavs set the stage to gain ground as the team has multiple entries in Saturday's finals in the mile run, 800 meters, and 200 meters.
The Mavs are poised to dominate the pole vault event Saturday. Three vaulters are among the top eight in the SLC. Defending indoor champion Lacey Moore (Great Bend, Kan.) will complete her collegiate career at the SLC Indoor Championships. She won the event a year ago with a vault of 12-01.50. Senior Vanessa Maida (Abilene, Texas) has cleared 12-01.50 at the Arkansas Invitational on Jan. 12. Sophomore Erin Cluiss (Forney, Texas) has the fourth best vault of the season with an 11-07.75.
