April 15, 2006 MEN FINISH FIRST, WOMEN SECOND AT PACESETTER INVITATIONAL TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Indiana State’s track teams concluded a very successful final day of the Pacesetter Invitational on Saturday afternoon in Terre Haute. The men took top honors in the home meet while the women finished just behind Purdue for second place in the meet. “We had a lot of really good performances today,” women’s head coach John Gartland said. “I hoped to stay a little closer to Purdue today, but despite a good day we weren’t able to stay close.” The women seemed to be a step behind the Boilermakers in most of the events during the hot spring day at Rose-Hulman’s Welch Track Complex. The women finished second in seven events, but picked up first-place finishes in two. Senior Myra Bess led the charge for the Sycamores with a first-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 1:01.85 and broke the Welch Track Complex record of 1:05.26 in the process. Teammate Janae Bridges also bested a Welch Track Complex record with a first-place time of 12.36 in the women’s 100-meter dash. Bridges would also finish second in the women’s 200-meter dash with a time 25.22 and third in the long jump with a mark of 18’-11.25”. Leah Durr (3,000-meter steeplechase, 11:36.41), Ashley Taflinger (800-meter run, 2:17.02) and Mary Kate Conway (400-meter dash, 56.51) came away bridesmaids during the afternoon with each athlete picking up a second-place finish in their respective events, despite season-best marks from each. Santia Spight (high jump, 5’-5”), Yolanda Wright (triple jump, 37’-5.75”) and the women’s 4 x 400-meter relay team also joined the ranks of second-place finishers during the competition. Melissa Ullenbruch continued her successful season in the pole vault by equaling her regionally qualifying mark of 12’-5.5” in her third-place finish among a tough pole vaulting field. The men benefited from the block finishes by their runners on the track and picked up first-place finishes in the jumping events and the discus in their runaway win. Charlie Sparks, Drew Traub and Jason Carruthers swept the top-three spots in the men’s discus throw with distances of 170’-2”, 167’-3” and 155’-9”, respectively. Sparks shattered the facility record of 23 years by almost nine feet in the finish. The jumping tandem of Paladin Jordan and Hanif Muhammed swept top finishes in the men’s triple jump and long jump. Jordan’s bound of 49’-10” in the triple jump garnered first-place honors while Muhammed’s mark of 24’-.75” set a new career-best mark in the first-place finish. On the track, Jerry Clopton ran to multiple second-place finishes with times of 10.79 in the 100-meter dash and a season-best time of 21.28 in the 200-meter dash. The senior also ran the lead-off leg of the men’s 4 x 400-meter relay team that shattered the Welch Track Complex record of 3:21.90 with a first-place finishing time of 3:11.42. The Sycamores benefited in the return of Sean Wright, who ran in his first outdoor meet of the season and finished second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.41. Teammate Brad Ada finished third for the men in the 800-meter run despite a season-best time of 1:52.87. The men scored the brunt of their points in the distance events with the Sycamores placing one, two and four in the 1,500-meter run; two, three, five, six in the 5,000-meter run; and a top-three sweep in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Sean Bowman (3:51.1) and Kyle Walsh (3:53.5) each ran season-best times in their 1,500-meter effort. Jordan Fife, leading from the sound of the gun in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, also ran a season-best time with his 9:01.89 first-place time. Bowman and Fife’s times also set new facility records, during a day that saw all but four Welch Track Complex records fall. “I was pleased with the performances of many of our athletes,” men’s head coach John McNichols said after the competition. “It was a great competition with a great crowd in a great facility on a great, great day. I think we had a lot of breakthroughs today and that will only sustain us as we continue through the season.” Indiana State will now head back out onto the road when they travel to Illinois and participate in the Illinois Invitational next weekend in Champaign, Illinois. Action is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 22. Women - Team Rankings - 20 Events Scored Men - Team Rankings - 20 Events Scored
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