Saturday, May 27, 2000

ACU’s Garner sets meet record in vault
By Bill Hart
Special to the Reporter-News

RALEIGH, N.C. — Meredith Garner twice flirted with disaster, but then she decided to attack the bar. The result was a new women’s pole vault record at the NCAA Division II meet Friday night at Derr Stadium.

The ACU sophomore, vaulting for the first year, cleared 12-3 1/2 on her third attempt to remain in the competition, then she made 12-7 1/2 to win the event.

But she wasn’t through.

She cleared 13-1 1/2 on her first try for a new meet record, matching the all-time best by a Division II woman, but she missed all three tries at 13-5, which would have paid her way to the Olympic Trials.

It was her best by a half-inch, which she set earlier this year indoors.

ACU wound up with 28 points to set the team pace going into today’s finals.

The ACU men didn’t score a point in the first two days, but they are expected to dominate tonight’s finals.

The Wildcats got Nic Alexander in the 100, Julieon Raeburn in the 400, Gilbert Tuhabonye and John Kemboi in the 800, Shaka Huggins in the high hurdles and the 4x400 relay to go with Thursday’s qualifiers. They also will have Terrence Woods in the triple jump and high jump.

Garner cleared 11-11 3/4 on her first try, then came the scares at the next two heights before she stayed alive in the competition.

“I was using my practice pole at the lower heights and I was being passive,’’ she said. “I finally decided to just attack the bar. Coach (Don) Hood told me if good things would happen on the ground, good things would happen in the air. My plant got better and I went higher.

“Sometimes when you do your worst vaulting, you have your best day, and that’s what happened to me. I know I can clear 13-5 because I have done it several times in practice.

“This was the first time that I have vaulted with no wind, so I didn’t get much out of the bigger pole. I could have gone with an even bigger one (at 13-5), but I felt confident with the one I was using. I don’t like to change poles at the same height.’’

Coach Jon Murray is hoping to get Garner in meets in Houston and Dallas before the Olympic Trials where she will have more chances to get her way paid to Sacramento in July.

Maresa Cadienhead was second in the high jump and Tracey Gust fourth to give ACU 13 points in the event. Adriane Sims of St. Augstine’s and Cadienhead both cleared 5-10, but Sims won with few misses. Gust cleared 5-8 3/4 .

“I didn’t go in until 5-7, but at 5-10 I didn’t run fast enough, and as I result, I didn’t jump high enough,” Cadienhead said. “I have gotten stronger the past few weeks, but not having a good training last fall hurt me. I’m just now starting to feel comfortable jumping.’’

“We both came in here wanting to do better than we had qualified, and we did,’’ Gust said. “I’ve jumped well all year, but I had cleared 5-10 in practice and I wanted to do that today.’’

Gust came into the meet with the eighth-best jump and Cadienhead had the third-best.

The ACU women qualified Shawntel Newhouse in the 100 hurdles, but the 4x400 relay team failed to reach the finals with a time of 3:48.57.

“We came through in the major events (high jump, pole vault and 100 hurdles), but we didn’t in the events that would have secured us some points,’’ Murray said. “I feel like we still have a chance to win because it should be a low-scoring meet. I think 60 or 70 points will win it.’’

ACU has Geraldine George in the shot put and javelin today and Hillerie Shelton and Dawnyel Newhouse in the triple jump.

This is the first time ever that the men have gone into the final day without a point, but they only had one person in the first two days of finals.

“I think we are in good shape because we have so much depth,’’ Murray said. “It may sound scary that we have no points, but I think we will be all right.’’

Alexander shut it off near the finish line in the 100 meters and still ran a 10.57 for the second-fastest time. Raeburn had the sixth-best 400 clocking (47.48), but he, too, was running to qualify.

Raeburn anchored the 4x400 relay to a 3:09.28 time, second-best, by running a 46.1

Kemboi won his 800 heat in 1:49.92, the best time, and Huggins’ 14.23 was second best in the high hurdles.

Lee McCown of Robert Lee and Angelo State came on strong in the final events to win the decathlon with 7,226 points after starting the day in fourth place.

He vaulted 15-3 to take the lead and he increased it with a 185-0 javelin toss, taking a 152-point cushion.

“I knew I had to run the 1,500 because he (Chad Froelker) had a much better time in that event,’’ McCown said. “I knew I couldn’t let him beat me by 23 seconds or he’d win.”

Froelker ran a 4:24.88 to McCown’s 4:41.08 and wound up second with 7,179 points.

Kate Wright of Tarleton finished ninth in the heptathlon with 4,773 points while teammate Alison Brown was 11th with 4,608.

MEN

Team points — 1. California-Davis 34; 2. Angelo State 23; Central Missouri 23; 4. Adams State 22; 5. St. Augustine’s 18; 6. South Dakota 17; 7 Ashland 15. .

Discus — 1. Curry Dawson, 183-0; 2. Paul Markel, Saginaw Valley, 182-10; 3. Charles Thomas, Cal-Davis, 180-6; 4 Nolan Wolkow, South Dakota State, 178-0; 5. Brian Emerson, North Dakota, 174-10; 6. Tyson Bertrand, Neb.-Kearney, 173-1; 7. TJ Koniowsky, Ashland, 171-6; 8. Robert Garza, A&M-KIngsville, 168-10.

3,000 steeplechase — 1. Vladmir Golias, Central Missouri, 8:43.04; 2. Julio Serratos, Adams State, 8:53.68; 3. Steve Hackworth, Northern Colorado, 8:55.97; 4. Matt Hoyt, South Dakota, 9:00.56; 5. Carl Blackhurst, Adams State, 9:01.99; 6. Ian Enriquez, Cal Poly Pomona, 9:04.70; 7. Steve Moyer, Lock Haven, 9:06.08; 8. Gustav Berggren, Western State Colo.. 9:06.42.

Decathlon

Points — 1. Lee McCown, Angelo State, 7,226; 2. Chad Froelker, Truman State, 7,179; 3. Nik Kassler, Pittsburg State, 6,952; 4. Robert Orr, Cal-Davis, 6,773; 5. Stellan Back, A&M-Kingsville; 6. Justin Ritter, Angelo State, 6,600; 7. David Singer, Indiana, Pa., 6,542; 8. Craig Erickson, North Dakota State, 6,496; 9. Aaron Crossley, Central Missouri, 5,939; 10, Damien Passalacqua, 5,816.

110 hurdles — 1. Froelker 15.23 (822); 2. Orr 15.53 (787); 3. McCown 15.61 (777).

Discus — 1. McCown 135-7 (691); 2. Back 130-9 (668); 3. Orr 129-111 (656).

Pole vault — 1. McCown 15-3 (804); 2. Kassler 14-11 (775); 3. Back 14-3 (716.

Javelin — 1. Back 197-5 (741); 2. McCown 185-0 (684); 3. Orr 179-5 (658).

1,500 — 1. Froelker 4:24.88 (779); 2. 2. Singer 4:34.05 (718); 3. McCown 4:41.08 (674).

WOMEN

Team points — 1. Abilene Christian 28; 2. Gardner-Webb 18; 3. St. Augustine’s 16; 4. South Dakota 15, Chico State 15; 6. Ashland 14, Northern Colorado 14, Western State Colo. 14; 9. Cal-Davis 13, Truman State 13.

Discus — 1. Chandra Flinn, Chico State, 165-1; 2. Mindy Ramsey, Saginaw Valley, 158-1; 3. Jackie Jeschelnig, Ashland, 156-1; 4. Kathy Crowe, Angelo State, 153-2; 5. Vanessa Wynne, Western State Colo., 156-1; 6. Kara Brockmeier, Emporia State, 150-8; 7. Nichole Hall, Northern State, 150-0; 8. Amanda Muller, South Dakota, 149-5.

High jump — 1. Adriane Sims, St. Augustine’s, 5-10; 2. Maresa Cadienhead, ACU, 5-10; 3. Sherri Cain, A&M-Kingsville, 5-8 3/4; 4. Tracy Gust, ACU, 5-8 3/4; 5. Julie Johnson, North Dakota, 5-7 3/4; 6. Amanda Oliver, Cal-Stanislaus, 5-7 3/4; 7. Tonya Kneifl, South Dakota, 5-7 3/4; 8. Kim Schiemenz, Northern Colorado, 5-6 1/2.

Pole vault — 1. Meredith Garner, ACU, 13-1 1/2 (meet record, old record 12-7 1/2 by Jennifer Bass, South Dakota State, 1999; ties Division II all-time record by Jennifer Swanson, Cal-Davis, 2000); 2. Jennifer Swanson, Cal-Davis, 12-3 1/2; 3. Aaron Clark, Moorhead, 12-3 1/2; 4. Kaley Kitto, Cal-Davis, 11-11 3/4; 5. Sandy Pelkofer, South Dakota, 11-7 3/4; 6. Jodi Tarasewicz, St. Cloud, 11-7 3/4; 7. Kristi Morton, Truman State, 11-3 3/4; 8. Sarah Scheckel, Pittsburg State, 10-11 3/4.

3,000 — 1. Jennifer Michel, Western State, 9:38.87; 2. Sylvia Chelimo, Gardner-Webb, 9:40.02; 3. Katie Huntley, Minn.-Duluth, 9:45.00; 4. Jenny Spoon, Chico State, 9:46.46; 5. Jennifer Ford, North Florida, 9:48.76.; 6. Sara Raschiatore, Indiana Pa., 9:49.31; 7. Melissa Bouren, Adams State, 9:52.96; 8. Molly Wedel, South Dakota, 9:53.91.

Heptathlon

Points — 1. Kim Schiemenz, Northern Colorado, 5,602; 2. Laura Widman, Seattle Pacific; 3. Meredith Davis, Morningside, 5,302; 4. Jennifer Higgins, St. Cloud, 5,209; 5. Andi Noel, North Dakota State, 5,169; 6. Renee Ostertag, Northern Colorado, 5,081; 7. Naquisha Moulton, Cal-Stanislaus, 4,989; 8. Tonya Kneifl, South Dakota, 4,862; 9. Kate Wright, Tarleton, 4,773; 10. Reidun Dailey, Western State Colo., 4,716; 11. Alison Brown, Tarleton, 4,608; 2. Sarah Hiss, Western Washington, 4,042.

Long jump — 1. Davis 5.51 (771); 2. Noel 5.66 (747); 8. Brown 5.21 (617); 11. Wright 4.65 (4.84).

Javelin — 1. Schiemenz 134-3 (685); 2. Wright 129-2 (655); 12. Brown 92-1 (440).

800 — 1. Wright 2:17.85 (853); 2. Higgins 2:18.12 (849); 9. Brown 2:27.96 (719).