March 8, 2010

Lady Tiger track and field team caps tremendous season with third place national finish

In what has been an outstanding season for the Cowley College women’s indoor track and field team, the squad capped the year by placing third out of 30 teams at the NJCAA National Indoor held Friday and Saturday in Charleston, Ill.

“This is one more chapter in the book for this year, it has been an amazing ride,” Cowley head coach Mark Phillips said.

Iowa Central Community College and New Mexico Junior College tied for the national title with 115 points, while Cowley placed third with 62 points.

Cowley had some impressive individual performances and got contributions from each of its athletes that competed at the national meet.

“From top to bottom it was an incredible effort on the weekend,” Phillips said.

In what was probably the most impressive effort, sophomore Katie Gillmore did not have a miss in the pole vault until the bar reached 12-feet-10 inches. Gillmore ended up breaking the meet record by clearing 12-6 ¾ in the event.

“That was her goal, to break the meet record,” Phillips said. “She has worked so hard to reach her goals.”
Robin Ray was the national champion in the 3,000-meter run, was the national runner-up in the mile run, and was third in the 5,000-meter run. Ray earned NJCAA All-American honors in all three events and broke the school record in the 3,000-meter run (10:12.10) and mile run (5:09.72).

“For her to go in there and run the times that she did on that track and win, was an incredible performance,” Phillips said. “That was not a track that lends itself to fast times.”

Sophomore Cecilia Burley was fifth in the 3,000-meter run (10:34.74), sixth in the 5,000-meters (18:33.08), and helped anchor the 4x800-meter relay team, which placed fourth with a school record time of 9:43.01. Burley earned Coaches Association All-American honors in all three events.

Also performing well were freshmen Richelle Farley and Leigh Ann Omarkhail. Farley set school records in the 60-meter hurdle prelims (9.08) and pentathlon, which she finished third in. While, Omarkhail’s time of 3:05.16 in the 1,000-meter prelims was a school record.

The Lady Tigers’ distance medley relay team of Marvia Lewin, Casssy Kendrick, Val Bland, and Leigh Ann Omarkhail also performed well and placed fourth.

“The relay teams ran really well,” Phillips said.

Cowley dominated the indoor season by winning conference and region titles before placing third at nationals. The Lady Tigers will look to carry over their strong performances when they open the outdoor season by hosting a meet this Thursday.

With Southwestern College’s track and field facility under construction, Cowley will host the Southwestern Invite. The meet on Thursday will begin with field events at 11:15 a.m., while running events will start at 12:45 p.m.

“We are really excited about the possibilities of what we can do in the outdoor season,” Phillips said. “This was a really good way to end the indoor season and give us momentum heading into the outdoor season.”

Results:

• 800-meter run — Marvia Lewin, 2:23.02, seventh.
  
• 1,000-meter run — Leigh Ann Omarkhail, 3:07.50, sixth, Coaches Association All-American; Lewin, 3:17.78, 14th.
  
• Mile run — Robin Ray, 5:09.72, second, school record, NJCAA All-American; Omarkhail, 5:24.43, 11th, Coaches Association All-American; Cecilia Burley, 5:26.81, 13th.
  
• 3,000-meter run — Ray, 10:12.10, national champion, school record, NJCAA All-American; Burley, 10:34.74, fifth, Coaches Association All-American.
  
• 5,000-meter run — Ray, 18:02.21, third, Coaches Association All-American; Burley, 18:33.08, sixth, Coaches Association All-American; Bailey Hawkins, 19:36.71, 16th.
  
• 60-meter hurdles — Richelle Farley, 9.08, 10th, school record.
  
• 4x800-meter relay — Omarkhail, Lewin, Val Bland, Burley, 9:43.01, fourth, school record.
  
• Distance Medley Relay — Bland, Cassy Kendrick, Lewin, Omarkhail, 12:52.93, fourth, Coaches Association All-American.
  
• Pole vault — Katie Gillmore, 12-6 ¾, national champion, indoor meet record, school, record, NJCAA All-American; Allison Hoover, 10-0, 10th.
  
• Shot put — Cearra Reddig, 38-11 ¾, 10th.
  
• Weight throw — Reddig, 45-5 ¾, 12th; Ruthann Ralstin, 40-1 ¼, 20th.
  
• Pentathlon — Farley, 3,099 points, third, school record.

Top-15 Team rankings: (1tie) Iowa Central, 115; (1tie) New Mexico Junior College, 115; (3) Cowley, 62; (4) Barton County, 54; (5tie) Rend Lake, 47; (5tie) Essex, 47; (7) Southwest Mississippi, 37; (8) Mesa, 36; (9tie) Coffeyville, 35; (9tie) Butler, 35; (11) Vincennes, 25; (12) Allen County, 23; (13) Cloud County, 22; (14) Johnson County, 14; (15tie) Colby, 13.; (15tie) Hutchinson, 13.