Sunday, May 28, 2000

St. Augustine’s pulls away to end Lady ’Cats’ three-peat bid
By Bill Hart
Special to the Reporter-News

RALEIGH, N.C. — The good news is that the Abilene Christian University women finished their portion of the NCAA Division II meet ahead by 26 points.

The bad news is that four events still had to be run.

The Lady Wildcats waited and hoped, but their hopes were dashed when St. Augustine’s scored 13 points (first and sixth) in the 200 and ACU’s bid for a three-peat was over.

The host team moved in front by a point and thanks to a win in the 1,600 relay, won with 77 points. ACU had 66 and distance-running Adams State was third with 50 points.

ACU had won the Division II indoor meet over St. Augustine’s by a point, but Saturday’s loss kept the school from sweeping both crowns for the second year in a row. Geraldine George got ACU’s day off to a good start when she won the javelin by almost 14 feet with her 165-4 toss on her first try. She could have won with five of her six throws.

She then followed with a fourth place in the shot put to give her 15 points on the day. But the Lady Wildcats picked up only seven points in the triple jump when defending champion Hillerie Shelton was third and Dawnyel Newhouse was eighth. ACU head coach Jon Murray had hoped for more.

Shawntel Newhouse started the sixth-place sprint relay and then won the 100-meter hurdles, but freshman Angie Waters was the Wildcats’ last hope for points. She got three by running a personal-best 2:11.16, but that ended the action for the Lady ’Cats.

“I felt the girls competed well, but we just didn’t have enough athletes,’’ Murray said. “Hillerie got beat by two good girls in the triple jump. I thought Waters was the highlight of the meet for us, getting two personal bests.’’

George’s shot put effort (48-6 3/4) was good enough to lead the field after the first two throws, but it didn’t stand up, although it was her best of the year. But she had no trouble winning the javelin.

“I guess I have a bad habit of getting off my best throw on my first attempt,’’ she said, smiling. “But a lot depends on the competition. It was different at the Texas Relays than here because I was going against a stronger field and athletes from (NCAA) Division I. I wanted to make myself known there.

“Before the year started, I wrote down the meets I would point to,” she said. “I wanted to qualify for nationals and now that I am here, I am looking forward to the next level (the Trinidad Olympic Trials June 16-17). I wanted to throw 185 feet today, so I still pushed myself today.’’

Shawntel Newhouse held off Maisha Prewitt of Fort Hays State to win the 100 hurdles in a personal-best 13.66. Prewitt was timed in 13.67.

“I had a good start,” she said. “I had to because she (Prewitt) got out of the blocks quicker than I did in the preliminaries. I may have knocked her back a little with my arm going over the last hurdle, then I just outleaned her at the finish. I think she led me most of the way after the start — until the last step.”

Lara Woods of Albany and Tarleton State was fourth in the triple jump (40-1 1/2) and Brooke McCasland of Goldthwaite and Angelo State was sixth (39-0 1/2). Former Cooper runner Tamara Grayson was a member of Angelo State’s fourth-place 1,600-relay team that ran 3:42.13. The first eight places in each event were declared all-Americans.

Team points — 1. St. Augustine’s 77; 2. Abilene Christian 66; 3. Adams State 50; 4. North Dakota State 44; 5. Gardner-Webb 43; 6. South Dakota 36; 7. California-Davis 30; 8. Albany State 28; 9. Slippery Rock 26; 10. Chico State 25; 23. Angelo State 13; 25. Tarleton State 9. 38; Texas A&M-Kingsville 6.

Javelin — 1. Geraldine George, ACU, 165-4; 2. Melissa Costa, Sonoma State, 151-7; 3. Regina Taylor, Fort Hays, 148-11; 4. Brianna Bair, Lock Haven, 148-11; 5. Jen Grube, East Stroudsburg, 146-7; 6. Sarah Wuertz, Emporia State, 143-4; 7. Audrey Simon, Pittsburg State, 140-10; 8. Jennifer Smith, Millersville, 139-0.

Triple jump — 1. Nikita Lewis, Slippery Rock, 41-10 3/4; 2. Jennifer Walker, Virginia State, 41-1 3/4; 3. Hillerie Shelton, ACU, 40-11 3/4; 4. Lara Woods, Tarleton, 40-1 1/2; 5. Crystal Cummins, North Dakota State, 39-3; 6. Brooke McCasland, Angelo State, 39-0 1/2; 7. Karena Singleton, Truman State, 38-8 1/4; 8. Dawnyel Newhouse, ACU, 38-0 1/4.

Shot put — 1. Mindy Ramsey, Saginaw Valley, 49-9 3/4; 2. Adriane Blewitt, Ashland, 49-7; 3. Julia Karst-Gray, North Dakota State, 48-10 1/4; 4. Geraldine George, ACU, 48-6 3/4; 5. Janet Boettcher, Nebraska-Kearney, 48-3 1/4; 6. Chandra Flinn, Chico State, 47-8; 7. Kara Brockmeier, Emporia State, 47-7 1/4; 8. Megan Montoni, Ashland, 47-6 1/2.

400 relay — 1. St. Augustine’s 44.93; 2. Albany State 45.39; 3. North Dakota State 46.42; 4. Lewis 46.44; 5. Adams State 46.52; 6. ACU 46.66; 7. Cal-Dominguez 46.67; 8. Fort Hays 46.78.

1,500 — 1. Sarah Harkey, Adams State, 4:24.67; 2. Becky Leppard, North Dakota, 4:30.76; 3. Jenny Spoon, Chico State, 4:32.72; 4. Melissa Smith, Grand Valley, 4:32.74; 5. Alicen Maier, Central Washington, 4:33.67; 6. April Maine, North Dakota, 4:34.51; 7. Maria Harriman, Indianapolis, 4:34.71; 8. Katie Berkes, Cal-Davis, 4:35.97.

100 hurdles — 1.Shawntel Newhouse, ACU, 13.66; 2. Maisha Prewitt, Fort Hayes, 13.67; 3. Meredith Davis, Morningside, 14.02; 4. Natilee Dawkins, Gardner-Webb, 14.15; 5. Tina Watkins, Cal-Bakersfield, 14.21; 6. Keyja Smith, Livingstone, 14.37; 7. Naquisha Moulton, Cal-Stanislaus, 14.39.

400 — 1. Tanya Oxley, St. Augustine’s, 52.93; 2. Lana Jekabsone, Lewis, 54.00; 3. Tamara Wigley-Brudy, North Dakota State, 54.47; 4. Ayana Drakes, Albany State, 54.55; 5. Juliet Brown, St. Augustine’s, 65.86; 6. Jill Theeler, North Dakota State, 55.09; 7. Cleanita Wiggins, Albany State, 55.28; 8. Teresa Shartel, San Francisco, 55.92.

100 — 1. Julia O’Neil, Gardner-Webb, 11.67; 2. Carmelita Jeter, Cal-Dominguez, 11.76; 3. Amber Plowden, Indiana, Pa., 11.89; 4. Sara Deckert, South Dakota, 11.93; 5. LouAnn Williams, Livingstone, 11.93; 6. Felicia Martin, Albany State, 11.99; 7. Deborah Bome, Adams State, 12.00; 8. Anna Teschmaker, St. Augustine’s, 12.19.

800 — 1. Sarah Parkey, Adams State, 2:08.13; 2. Florencia Hunt, St. Augustine’s, 2:10.01; 3. Rachel Kraft, North Dakota State, 2:10.61; 4. Lache Bailey, San Francisco, 2:10.88; 5. Jessica Altnow, Cal-Davis, 2:10.95; 6. Jessica Waters, ACU, 2:11.16; 7. Lori Schmidt, Minn.-Duluth, 2:11.75; 8. Rachel Harvey, Central Missouri, 2:11.76.

400 hurdles — 1. Lana Jekabsone, Lewis, 58.12; 2. Mary Garrett, Missouri Southernm 60.13; 3. Nicole Frey, Slippery Rock, 60.29; 4. Tynisha Teal, St. Augustine’s, 71.78; 5. Melissa Ferguson, Cal-Davis, 6. Jennifer Gubernot, Shippensburg, 62.20; 7. Karen Summers, Seattle Pacific, 62.33; 8. Jennifer Pyeatt, Seattle Pacific, 65.13.

200 — 1. Tanya Oxley, St. Augustine’s, 23.31; 2. Sara Deckert, South Dakota, 23.72; 3. Carmelita Jeter, Cal-Dominguez, 23.94; 4. Amber Plowden, Indiana Pa., 24.05; 5. Ayana Drakes, Albany State, 24.09; 6. Juliet Brown, St. Augustine’s, 24.10; 7. LouAnn Williams, Livingstone, 24.32; 8. Eeborah Bome, Adams State, 24.69.

5,000 — 1. Sylvia Chelimo, Gardner-Webb, 16.58.42; 2. Molly Wedel, South Dakota, 17:05.71; 3. Kim Bosen, Adams State, 17:08.09; 4. Rebekah Mackie, Armstrong-Atlantic,, 17:16.09; 5. Jodi Day, Western State Colo., 17:17.34; 6. Esther Hartsky, Adams State, 17:18.81; 7. Jinny Mortensen, Adams State, 17:20.16; 8. Jenny Spoon, Chico State, 17:29.24.

1,600 relay — 1. St. Augustine’s 3:39.90; 2. Cal-Davis 3:40.57; 3. Albany State 3:42.09; 4. Angelo State 3:42.13; 5. North Dakota State 3:42.50; 6. Grand Valley State 3:45.02; 7. North Dakota 3:45.26; 8. Truman State 3:47.28.