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Cards Win First Ever Women's Team Title at BIG EAST Outdoor Championships
May 4, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The University of Louisville women's track and field team capped a record-setting weekend on Sunday by winning the program's first ever conference team title at the 2008 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships at Villanova Stadium. On the men's side, the Cardinals finished third overall in the team race. The Louisville women, which earned runner-up honors at last year's BIG EAST Outdoor meet, finished this year's three-day event with 106 points, while Pittsburgh was second with 87 points. In the men's race, Notre Dame won the team title with 122.5 points, followed by Connecticut with 105 and the Cards in third with 93. Along with winning the team trophy, head coach Ron Mann and the Louisville assistant coaches were named 2008 BIG EAST Women's Coaching Staff of the Year, while sophomore Jere' Summers was named Women's Field Performer of the Meet after winning the discus and shot put titles on Saturday with meet record performances. "Winning a women's conference championship in track and field has been a goal of ours since we arrived in Louisville and it's a great feeling to accomplish that today," said Mann, now in his fourth season in Louisville. "Our administration, from (Athletic Director) Tom Jurich to (Associate AD) Julie Hermann to the entire university, has supported us in all of our efforts. This is another big step forward towards where we ultimately want to take the University of Louisville track and field program." Leading the way for the Louisville women on Sunday was senior captain ZeNai Savage and sophomore Rachel Gehret. Savage, a native of Indianapolis, Ind., won the hammer throw with a personal best and regional qualifying mark of 196 feet, 9 inches. The win is her second career outdoor BIG EAST title and her third overall.
The Cards' fourth event title of the weekend on the women's side was clinched by Gehret, a native of Altoona, Pa., in the high jump with a personal best and regional qualifying cleared height of 5-11.25. The leap moves Gehret into the nation's top 10 in the event this week. "We had a number of athletes really step up today and I couldn't be prouder of ZeNai and Rachel," said Mann, who now has 61 conference team titles in track and field and cross country, including three at U of L. "This was certainly a team win for us because had to overcome some obstacles, but nobody ever gave up on winning the championship." On the men's side, the Cards won one event title on Sunday as junior Andre Black won his third straight BIG EAST outdoor triple jump title with a regional qualifying and season's best leap of 52-07.50. Black was also named the Men's Field Performer of the Meet after his runner-up finish in the long jump on Saturday, and the native of Mobile, Ala., has now won six BIG EAST titles overall (four outdoor, two indoor) in the jumps events to go along with his 2007 NCAA indoor triple jump title. "After redshirting during the indoor season, it's taken Andre some time to get back into competition form, but he's getting closer with each day and today's performance in the triple jump shows that," Mann said. "I'm proud of our men and even though we didn't get back-to-back team titles, I feel very good about the foundation of the men's program and what we can accomplish in the very near future." The Louisville women also added two additional Mideast Regional qualifiers on Sunday as junior Heather Trimiew had a season's best time of 1:00.30 to finish third in the 400m hurdles and sophomore Tarah McKay had season's best time of 4:26.77 to finish fifth in the 1500m. With those two additions, the Cards now have 23 total qualifiers for the NCAA Mideast Regional, including 14 women and nine men. Also winning medals for the Louisville women on Sunday was junior Seidre Forde with a second-place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 42-07.50 and sophomore Lindsey Cook with a third-place finish in the hammer with a throw of 177-05. Also winning medals for the Louisville men was senior Chris Danks in the 800m run with a school record time of 1:48.41 to finish second overall, while junior Andrew Hackney was third in the hammer with a throw of 181-11. The time for Danks breaks his own previous school record of 1:50.25 set earlier this season at the Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational in Louisville and moves him into the nation's top 10 in the event. A second school record performance for the men was also turned in by freshman Kyle Gann, who finished fourth overall in the pole vault with a cleared height of 16-02.75, an improvement of two inches over the previous U of L record of 16-00.75 set by Eric Cockley in 2003. Overall, the Cards won five event titles, including four for the women and one for the men, and set three school records over the weekend. Up next, the Cards will have a weekend off from competition before returning to action on May 17 at home at the Cardinal Twilight in Louisville. The Cardinal Twilight will be the final opportunity for Louisville athletes to earn bids to the NCAA Mideast Regional on May 30-31 in Fayetteville, Ark. BIG EAST Outdoor Championships - Philadelphia, Pa. Sunday Results |
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Louisville Women's Track
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