May 16, 2008

Photo Gallery by Ivan Pierre Aguirre 

Day Two Results (PDF)

UTEP's Mickael Hanany, Patrick Mutai, Blessing Okagbare and Alex van der Merwe each won titles on day two of the Conference USA Outdoor Track & Field Championship on Friday at Kidd Field.

The Miner men are first with 70 points, and have an 18-point lead over second-place Memphis heading into Saturday's final day. Houston is third with 48 points. The UTEP women are third with 40.5 points behind Rice (65 points) and Memphis (46 points).

"Our men have positioned themselves pretty well for tomorrow," UTEP coach Bob Kitchens said. "We qualified really well. I don't know that we lost anything on the men's side. On the women's side, we had a really good meet. We'll just go out tomorrow and see how things fall, but I think it's going to be a tight race between us and Rice."

Hanany and Okagbare gave the Miners a sweep of the long jump event, with Hanany leaping 7.59m (24-11) and Okagbare achieving a mark of 6.70m (21-11 3/4). Okagbare's performance bettered the C-USA meet record of 6.49m, established a year ago by Southern Miss' Tanika Liburd. It is the 16th conference title for Hanany, who will compete in the high jump and triple jump tomorrow. It is the third conference title for Okagbare, who won the long jump and triple jump at C-USA Indoors earlier this year.

Mutai remained undefeated in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in his collegiate career by running 8:55.52 on Friday night. Mutai was the 2005 WAC champion and is a three-time C-USA champion in the event (2006, 2007, 2008).

Van der Merwe claimed his third consecutive C-USA javelin crown with a best of 67.88m (222-8).

UTEP also picked up a second-place finish from Keisha Walkes in the women's shot put, a runner-up finish from Nicodemus Ng'etich in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and a third-place showing from Nelly Tchayem in the long jump. Walkes threw 15.83m (51-11 1/4) and was edged by Memphis' Susan King, who set a meet record with an effort of 17.84m (58-6 1/2). Ng'etich was timed in 9:18.35. Tchayem achieved a mark of 5.94m (19-6).

The Miner women received a few more points from Teresa Contreras and Terran Alexander. Contreras scored two and a half points when she leaped 1.60m (5-3) to tie for sixth place in the high jump. Alexander scored one point, claiming eighth in the javelin with a heave of 35.97m (118-0).

UTEP's Anthony Haywood finished 12th in the long jump (6.68m/21-11). Brissia Montalvo (11:40.11), Laura Clarke (11:41.54) and Megan Chojnacki (12:14.43) went 7-8-10 in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.

Fourteen Miners advanced to Saturday's finals, including six individuals on the men's side and eight on the women's side. Men's qualifiers were Ronald Arajs (21.22) and Anderson Mutegi (21.33) in the 200 meters; Aggrey Chirchir (1:50.71), Elias Koech (1:54.44) and Dominic Tanui (1:52.32) in the 800 meters; Arajs (10.56) and Donald Buckram (10.81) in the 100 meters; and Mutegi in the 400 meters (46.88). Women's qualifiers included Halimat Ismaila (23.47), Okagbare (23.76) and Shalaiyah Sommerville (23.84) in the 200 meters; Kelly Young in the 800 meters (2:10.81); Ismaila (11.48) and Quashanda Welch (12.05) in the 100 meters; Sommerville in the 400 meters (54.33); Welch in the 100 meter hurdles (13.65); and Happy Mary Bacia (4:37.41), Young (4:38.53), Jepchirchir Kigen (4:40.87) and Delia Cesar (4:41.46) in the 1,500 meters.

Saturday's finals will begin at 1 p.m. MST on Saturday with the women's discus throw. The final event of the day will be the men's 4x400 relay at 8:35 p.m., followed by the presentation of awards.