April 8, 2008

Half the Lipscomb Men's and Women's Track teams competed against close to 100 other college and club teams at the Duke University Invitational in Durham, N.C., last Friday and Saturday.

Highlights at Duke for the women were Julie Alley's personal record of 5:08.48 in the 1500m, before doubling back in the 5000m in 19:49.50, nearly another personal record, and Caitlin Anderson's 18:58.72 5000m time, which is her track PR and within 10 seconds of her cross county 5K personal record.

Highlights for the men at Duke were season best performances in the 800m by Clint Carter (1:57.51) and Jacob Nelson (1:59.99), a 40-second personal record in the 3000m steeplechase for Jonathan Williams (9:52.36) and a solid 5000m by Jordan Wilson (15:24.30).

"Duke was a good experience for us." said Head Coach Bill Taylor. "These are the types of meets this program must compete in regularly in order to rise to the elite level we expect to be at soon.

"We had some good performances at this meet but we also struggled in many areas, which I think is mostly because none of our athletes have competed in a meet this big and intense before. We are a program on the move up, but it doesn't happen overnight. This is a learning experience and I am certain our performances will be significantly better in the future as a result."

Other performances from Duke were Carolyn Latham (5000m 18:40.35), Paige Griffin (800m 2:28.02), Shannon Shoemake (5000m 19:56.46), Jared Carlson (3000m Steeplechase 10:12.00), Tylar Peoples (100m 11.61) and (200m 23.41), Michael Knox (400 53.18) and David Wolfe (5000m 16:19.08).

The other half of the Bison's teams headed north to compete in the Austin Peay State University Governor's Invite.

Andrew Shankles set a new 1500m personal record in 4:16.40.

Other performances at Austin Peay were Paloma Floden (1500m 5:25.08), Lauren Floyd (400m Hurdles 1:12.56), Anna Day (800m 2:40.85), (Hannah Joiner Shot Put 9.60m), Andrew Shankles (800m 2:03.97), Jeff Hoover (1500 4:20.11) and (800m 2:13.83), Paul Wright (3000m Steeplechase 10:23.39) and Austin Ray (Javelin 43.61m).

Next up for the Bisons is the Tennessee State University Boston Moon Invite in Nashville Saturday. Field events start at 10 a.m. Running events start at 12 p.m.