May 3, 2008

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. ---- The Samford University track and field teams capped off their season Saturday as the Bulldog women earned their highest conference finishe Saturday in the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships held at the Stuber Track Complex on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. The Bulldog women earned second place with 118.5 points while the men grabbed fifth place with 49 points.

"Our women definitely came ready to compete," Samford interim head coach Chad James said. "Every where we needed them to pick up points, they all stepped up and did what they were asked to do"

On the women's side, Lauren Blankenship was named Female Athlete of the OVC Championships and earned 28 points, the most points for her team than any other individual at the championships. The senior Bulldog added to Friday's 10,000-meter championship with a first place finish in the in the 5000-meters (17:02.09) and second place finish (4:36.81) in the 1500-meters, all of which earned her All-OVC honors.

Freshman of the Year Hillary Neal won the 800-meters with a school-record time of 2:09.36, earning her All-OVC honors and qualifying her for the NCAA Mideast Regional. She also won the 1500-meters with a regional-qualifying time of 4:32.23, earning her All-OVC honors for that event as well. Elyse Rippe followed in fourth place in the event with a time of 5:04.51.

Ashley Dance earned all-conference accolades with her second place finish in the 400-meter dash with a personal best time of 55.51. She also place sixth in the 200-meter dash with a personal best time of 25.32. Ashley Flowers came in behind Dance in third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.74, earning all-conference honors.

Ina Ables took sixth place in the 5000-meters with a personal best time of 18:19.62 followed by l,auren Pilcher in 10th with a personal best time in 18:29.87. Britney Almaguer took 13th in the same event with a time of 18:48.75 while also taking fifth place in the 1500-meters with a time of 4:43.39.

Ciara Floyd ran a season-best time of 14:88 in the 100-meter hurdles, earning her sevent place. After breaking her own school record in the preliminaries of the 400-meter hurdles on Friday, Morgan Tyler earned All-OVC honors with a second place finish in the event, running a time of 1:01.78. Kady Decker came in seventh in the same event with a time of 1:05.32.

Tyler also earned fourth place in the triple jump with a personal best leap of 39'10". She was also a part of the school-record setting 4x400-meter relay team, running a time of 3:47.22 which earned a second place finish and All-OVC honors. Joining her on that team were Flowers, Neal and Dance.

Freshman Mary Barron took fourth place in the pole vault, clearing 11'00".

On the men's side, Michael Smith won his first conference championship in the 400-meter hurdles, which he has already qualified for the NCAA Regional in, with a time of 52.55, earning him All-OVC honors. Smith also took fifth place in the 110-meter hurdles (14.94) and earned the most points for the Samford men.

Freshman Brian Post set a new personal best for himself in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.28 while finished seventh.

Cameron Bean earned fourth place in the 5000-meter race with a season-best time of 15:12.98. He earned the second most points for the men. Bo Brawner took 10th place in the same event with a time of 15:40.99 while Patrick Ollinger followed at 11th place with a personal best of 15:44.52.

Michael Schwartz added to his eighth place finish in the 800-meters with a seventh place finish (4:08.67) in the 1500-meter race.

Zac Epperson earned All-OVC honors in the pole vault event with a third place vault of 14'00" while Chas Keithan vaulted a personal record of 13'00", taking fourth place.

Kyle Brown added to his personal best in the javelin with personal records in the discus (122'03") and shot put (40'2.25"), earning ninth and 11th places, respectively. Ryan Fee came in 10th in the discus with a toss of 111'04".

"I can't say enough about how both of these teams stepped up and competed today," said James. "Every person stepped up and performed to the ability that I knew they were capable of. This is the highest finish for both of these teams in the conference championships and I think it's the perfect way to leave the OVC and head into the Southern Conference."