Dagnachew Dominates Performances at Raleigh Relays this Weekend
March 31, 2008
Raleigh, N.C. - Junior Tsehaye Dagnachew qualified for May's NCAA East Regional Championship with a win in her section of the 3000m Steeplechase and the fastest overall time of any section of 10:30.51 at the Raleigh Relays at N.C. State on Saturday, anchoring a performance from the Charlotte 49ers track and field outdoor teams which included four Regional Qualifying times and USATF Junior National Championship Qualifiers.
"Tsehaye is a fifth year senior with eligibility for this outdoor season only and so has been able to focus all of her training and preparation for these three to four months to achieve a strong showing on the national scene," head coach Bob Olesen said. "This is the fastest opening race of any season in her career and a fantastic start to reaching her national goals. She did a great job in adverse conditions as the weather was beautiful Friday but cold and rainy Saturday during her race."
Three other Niners achieved NCAA regional qualifying performances. Lamarra Currie and Courtney Patterson both improved their season's best times in the preliminaries of the 100m dash on Friday with times of 11.47 and 11.55 respectively. The fourth qualifier was came from the men's team and freshman Darius Law with a big personal best improvement in the 400m with a time of 46.79 only .04 seconds from the school record and ranked second all time for Charlotte. This performance also qualifies him for the USA Track & Field Junior National Championship in Columbus, Ohio in June.
Other standout performances from the men included Ryan Jank and Dakota Lowery in the 5000m, as Jank slashed fifteen seconds from his lifetime best, crossing the finish line in 14:16.88 in the fastest seeded section of the event, moving him up to fourth on the all-time performance list. Freshman Lowery won his unseeded section of the 5000m in 14:45.54, qualifying him for the USA Junior Championship.
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In addition to Dagnachew's accomplishment, a number of other women turned in an outstanding meet. Aja Jackson got a great season opening time in the 1500m with a 4:34.04 and was the top collegiate finisher and 2nd overall. In the 400m dash freshman Yvonna Hines led the talented young 400m group with a USA Junior champs qualifying 54.97 finishing second and moving up to third all time. Three other 400m teammates recorded personal best times: Ebonie Cunningham 55.18, Kortnie Coleman 56.96, and Olivier Brown 57.17. This quartet formed the 4x400m relay at the end of the meet Saturday finishing 2nd with a season's best 3:45.43.
Other USA Junior Champs qualifiers included freshmen Amanda Goetschius and Tacara Morissey with a 5000m time of 17:11.24 for Goetschius and a 100m hurdle time of 14.30 for Morissey.
Sprinters Patterson, Currie and Lajarsha Moses dominated the Invitational 200m dash sweeping the top three places in that order. The three were joined by junior long jumper and hurdler Pat Springs to form the 4x100m relay team that finished 2nd. Springs was also 3rd in the long jump at 19'7.5 (5.98m).
"The meet went well for us considering the weather conditions on Saturday were less than favorable for sprint and field events," Olesen said. "It was good experience for what may be cool conditions at the A-10 Championships at Massachusetts the first weekend of May, a point the coaching staff made clear to team on Saturday."
Next weekend will see the track & field teams splitting up between the Florida Relays in Gainesville, FL and the Duke Invitational in Durham, NC.
