May 4, 2012

Yslas, Lowery score; Golden Eagles post nine PRs at OVC Championships

Juniors Lacy Yslas and Katie Lowery scored points for Tennessee Tech Friday on the first day of the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Women's Track & Field Championships in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Junior thrower Lacy Yslas and junior pole vaulter Katie Lowery scored points Friday for Tennessee Tech on the first day of the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference women’s Track & Field Championships, being held at Southeast Missouri State.

The host Redhawk women closed the first day in the lead with 83 points, with defending champion and favorite Eastern Illinois in second place with 72.5 points. Murray State is a distant third with 43 points, followed by Jacksonville State (30), Tennessee State (14.5), Austin Peay (14), Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky (6) and Tech (4).

Yslas got the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard early, earning two points in the first finished event of the day, the discus. She claimed a seventh place showing with a toss of 132 feet, 8 inches.

Yslas turned in another point-winning performance for the Golden Eagles with a career-best effort in the javelin, placing seventh and beating her PR by three feet with a throw of 108 feet, 11 inches.

Tech added a point in the pole vault when Lowery finished eighth, clearing the bar at 9 feet, 6.25 inches.

That was the end of the scoring for coach Tony Cox’s team, but the Golden Eagles recorded eight more career-best marks.

Rebecca Cline, a newcomer to the 3,000-meter steeplechase this year, placed 10^th and shaved nearly two full minutes off her previous best effort. She covered the distance in 12:51.51.

Just a couple hours after running that grueling event, Cline stepped back on the track to compete in the 10,000-meter run for the first time in her career. She ran the distance in 43:33.54 to finish 13^th, while Meghan O’Donoghue placed 15^th in 45:58.60.

Sophomore Kelli Keck soared to a career-best 16 feet, 8.75 inches in the long jump. While the effort didn’t place Keck in the scoring, it topped her PR by a quarter inch.

Another sophomore jumper who notched a career-best Friday was Erin Keyes, who cleared 5 feet, one-quarter inch in the high jump.

Brooklyn Kimball ran the 400-meter dash in 59.81 seconds.. While it didn’t advance her to the finals Saturday, it was a career-best and came within one second of the school record.

Junior Justine Phillips was just off the pace of her career-best in the 100-meter dash, finishing in 12.90. She did achieve a PR in the 200-meter dash, along with Keck. Phillips ran a 26.45 while Keck crossed the line in 26.75.

In the 800m, two of Tech’s four entries ran PR times. Emily Weinzetl led the Golden Eagles, finishing 11^th overall in 2:18.58. The career-best times came from senior Jenna Philpot and sophomore Kara Webb. Philpott turned in a time of 2:22.52 while Webb ran the two-lap race in 2:23.24.

The schedule for the meet included finals in only seven events Friday that points were awarded. More that half of Friday’s schedule was prelims, with the finals scheduled for Saturday.