KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Felisha Johnson captured her second event of the Meyo Invitational this weekend, winning the shot put Saturday in the Loftus Sports Center on the campus of the University of Notre Dame while Greggmar Swift continued his dominance of the 60 meter hurdles as he won for the fifth time in five meets this indoor season.
Johnson's best throw of 54'-3.75" (16.55 meters) was almost three feet further than Dani Bunch of Purdue who was second at 51'-10.5" (15.81 meters). The Sycamore junior also won the weight throw on Friday with a throw of 67'-10" (20.69) which was nearly two feet better than second place Alexis Thomas of Ohio State (66'-1").
"I think we did better in this meet than we have in years past," Angela Martin, Indiana State women's track & field coach, said. "We had some nice surprises on the track and in the field events as well. Stacia had another steady week in the hurdles, Leeann ran well in the 800 as she was in a slow heat but led from start to finish and placed well running her first sub-2:10. The 4x400 ended the meet on good note for us, knocking four seconds off their time. As large and competitive as this meet was, I was proud of the way the women handled themselves. They are becoming more focused and moving forward."
The outstanding effort by the Indiana State throwers continued with Mary Theisen taking fourth out of the 38 competitors with a distance of 49'-11.25" (15.22 meters) while Tara Perigo was 13th at 46'-1.5" (14.06 meters). Theisen was also eighth in the weight throw while Kasey Kahle finished 12th out of the 49 thrower field.
"I thought we had a very good meet as far as our placing went," John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach, said. "Pounds winning the weight, Lyke the long jump, and Swift the 60 hurdles against a good hurdler from Arkansas really highlighted the weekend. We also had a good showing by Rollins in the triple jump with another outstanding effort and by Clay who was involved in another exciting dual in the high jump between two All-Americans."
Swift ran away with his fifth straight 60 meter hurdle title, finishing in 7.78, just a hundredth of a second off his career best time, to win the finals Saturday. The sophomore was a second better than Arkansas' Caleb Cross (7.88) and two ahead of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Durell Busby (7.96).
Major Clay and Purdue's Geoff Davis have had some great competitions whenever the two have met and Saturday was no exception. However, Clay was judged second in the men's high jump as the two elite high jumpers both cleared 7'-1" (2.16 meters) but Clay had more misses during the competition. ISU's Jonathan Christensen and Robert Webb each cleared 6'-8" (2.03 meters) to tie for eighth out of the 28 competitors.
Ernest Rollins established a new personal best in the triple jump as he soared to 51'-1.75" (15.59 meters) which is the third best in school history. The distance was second best in the competition which was won by Olumide Olamigoke of Indiana at 51'-7" (15.72 meters). Kevin Piraino was 15th for ISU at 44'-6.75" (13.58 meters).
Another top finish for the men came from the 4x400 meter relay team of Max Tuttle, Kevin Piraino, Ryan Dickson, and Jonathan Jackson who finished third in a season best 3:14.10 which places them among the top 10 in ISU history.
Leeann Michl ran the third fastest 800 meters in school history as she was timed in a personal best 2:09.74 to finish fourth (the third collegian) out of the 78 competitors.
Michl also ran the third leg of the 4x400 meter relay team which ran the third fastest time in school history as they finished fifth overall in 3:44.56. Stacia Weatherford led off the relay with Shelby Higginbottom taking the second leg, Macey Black the third, and Michl anchoring the team.
Demetra Camble ran a personal best 25.54 to finish 34th out of 79 runners in a very competitive 200 meter field. Macey Black posted a personal best time of 57.38 to place 18th out of 70 runners in the 400 meters. Kalli Dalton ran a personal best 5:07.85 to finish 35th out of 73 runners in the mile. Jessica Zangmeister ran 10:08.92 in the 3000 meters to finish 17th out of 55 runners while Valerie Burns set a new personal best at 10:09.05 to finish 18th and Nicole Lucas also set a personal best at 10:18.69 to finish 30th.
Nicole Hope cleared 13'-1.75" (4.01 meters) to tie for fourth overall (tied for third collegian) in the pole vault while Richelle Kimble cleared 12'-8" (3.86 meters) to finished eighth (seventh collegian). Shalesa Smith had a personal best leap of 40'-2" (12.24 meters) to finish eighth out of 33 competitors in the women's triple jump. The distance is the third best in ISU history.
Justin Baxtron ran to a 14th place finish out of 52 runners in the 200 meters with a time of 22.21 whole Leo Cordova was 27th in 22.59. Kevin Piraino and Max Tuttle ran identical times of 48.58 in the 400 meters to tie for seventh. It was a personal best for Piraino and within two-tenths of a personal best for Tuttle. Jonathan Jackson also ran a personal best at 48.82 to finish 12th in the field of 52 runners.
Corey Hahn ran a personal best 1:53.80 to finish 32nd out of 68 runners in the 800 meters with Rem Lewis also running a personal best 1:58.22 to finish 55th. Jeremiah Vaughan ran 4:12.31 to finish ninth in the mile out of 44 runners with Dustin Betz posting a personal best 4:13.78 to finish 12th. Tristan Selby ran a personal best 8:37.72 to finish 10th out of 22 runners in the 3000 meters.
Chris Fields was 12th out of the 20 competitors in the men's shot put with a throw of 48'-2.75" (14.70 meters).
Indiana State will wrap up three straight weeks of high level invitational competition Feb. 10-11 when they compete at the Grand Valley State Big Meet Invitational in Allendale, Mich.
