Spartans Win Five Events, Dominant At Furman Invitational
4/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
April 11, 2009
GREENVILLE, S.C. - On a blustery Saturday, the USC Upstate track and field team used a surplus of excitement and adrenaline stored from a week off of competition last weekend to conquer five first-place finishes while gathering top performances in nearly every event at the Furman Invitational.
Earning first-place finishes for the Spartans were Eric Chapman, Emily Tangwar, Justin Crawford, Perrish Goggins and Angie Varnum. Chapman led all competitors in the men's hammer throw, with a first-place school-record toss of 148-11. Tangwar's time of 4:45.46 was the best time of the day in the women's 1,500-meters, and Crawford continued to improve in the pole vault, reaching 15 feet for the first time in his career and school history. To conclude the day, Goggins took first-place in the men's high jump with a showing of 6-04.00, while Angie Varnum topped all women in the javelin throw, reaching a distance of 89-01.50
Upstate also saw a plethora of second-place finishes and top-five performances throughout the day. Freshman Reggie Thompson took second in the men's high jump behind Goggins, reaching 6-02.00, and tied with Goggins for second in the men's long jump at 21-02.50. Gabrielle Walker took second in the women's triple jump with a finish at 33-07.50, posting a new school record. Walker also took fourth in the women's long jump and Erin Tyre recorded her personal best performance with a fourth-place finish in the high jump.
"We had an outstanding meet today across the board," said Upstate's head track and field coach Jimmy Stephens. "I'm really proud of everyone. Coach Hodge has done an amazing job with our throwers as they keep improving exponentially each week. Eric's hammer throw and Justin's pole vault performance were standouts on the field side. Perrish had another solid day despite fighting injury."
The Spartans also had two finishers in the top-three in the pole vault, as Squibbs earned a career-best third-place finish of 13-06.00 to compliment Crawford's victory.
Upstate saw three athletes in the top-five finalists in the women's 1,500 meters. Emily Tangwar won the race for the second-straight year with a time of 4:45.46, with Jemeli Sang and Joan Tangwar closely behind, earning the third and fourth spots, respectively, with times of 4:47.64 and 4:47.74 and posting personal bests. Caroline Chelulei also competed and finished in 5:05.42. The men's 1,500 also saw several top performances, with James Jackson leading the way with a 12th-place 4:19.42 finish. Joe Holzinger and Conrad Goeringer also posted finishes in the top-16 under 4:25:00.
"The women ran well today in the 1,500 meters," said assistant coach Ed Schlichter. "Jemeli and Joan represented us really well and got after the competition, and Emily came up big with the win just as she did last year. Caroline is making great strides after taking some time off, and will be back up with the other girls shortly. On the men's side, Matt and James are still rebounding from a tough 10k last week at Duke. Conrad and Joe are continuing to put up solid times and I look for them to drop some time in the coming meets."
The story was similar in the 800-meters as the Spartans had three runners in the top-10 finishers. Emily Tangwar led the attack with a third-place finish in 2:19.61, while Joan Tangwar finished eighth and Jemeli Sang took ninth. In the men's action, Joe Holzinger came close to beating his own school record with a 2:01.38 finish.
Upstate continued to see top performances and improvements in throwing events as well. Marc Wartenberger joined Chapman in breaking the school record in the hammer throw, posting a third-place performance with a toss of 140-09. Chapman then broke Wartenberger's record with a toss reaching 148-11. In the women's hammer throw, Kayla Speed took fourth-place, reaching 39.55 meters and breaking her own school record of 37.07 meters. LaTerrica Blocker and Stacie Sewell also earned personal bests and finished among the top-10 finalists.
"I'm very excited for both Marc and Eric," Stephens said. "Both broke the school record today in the hammer and put up solid performances. Kayla Speed's fourth-place finish was a new PR for her, and LaTerrica (Blocker) also set a new personal best. Each week we seem to turn over a new leaf."
In the women's shot put, Blocker posted a new school record with a third-place finish and a toss of 35-03.00. Sewell represented the women in the discus throw, finishing sixth with a toss of 92-03, her strongest finish of the season in the event.
Kyle Wentzel led the Spartans in the men's javelin throw with a seventh-place finish and a toss of 137-09.50. Wartenberger and Chris Weidensee also competed for Upstate. Angie Varnum led the attack for all women as she had the best toss of the day among all competitors. Erin Tyre also competed for the women.
Back on the track, freshman Lauren Walker added another solid finish to her resume, posting a third-place finish in the women's 3k steeplechase in her first-time ever competing in the event. Walker finished in 12:05.96. The rookie is expected to see more action in the steeplechase after Saturday's success.
"Lauren definitely met my high expectations like I knew she could in the steeple today," Schlichter said. "Without even jumping over a hurdle before, she really seems like a natural. I think this can be her event."
In the first event of the morning, Thompson and Kathryn Neely both qualified for finals in the men's and women's hurdle events, posting respective times of 15.95 and 16.71 seconds. Neely then finished sixth-overall in the finals in 17.14.
Later on, Thompson joined Michael Meissner in the men's 100-meter dash, where the two Spartans finished almost neck-and-neck, with Meissner crossing the line in 11.31 and Thompson finishing in 11.88. For the women, Gabrielle Walker earned a fourth-place spot in the final round with a 13.42 second performance in the 100-meters.
In the 400-meter dash, Meissner earned another top performance, finishing second-overall and setting a new school record in 50.38 seconds. On the women's side, it was Kiah White who finished in the top-five, crossing the finish line fourth with a time of 1:01.82. In the women's 200-meter dash, Adrienne Singletary grabbed the second-place spot with a finish in 28.02 seconds.
The Spartans competed in both relay events, as the men won the 4X100 with a 44.30 second performance, followed by the women who finished in 51.77 seconds.
Brent Durden, Maria Ruvalcaba Trigueros and Nicole Yancey saw action in the 5k.
The Spartans are showing clear and extreme improvement from not only last season in their first year of competition at the Division I level, but since the first meet of the outdoor season in mid-March.
"As a whole, the team is really coming together," Stephens said. "Each individual came up big today in some form or another. Hopefully over the next few weeks we can continue to get stronger in preparation for conference."
The Spartans will resume competition on Friday, April 17th, as they will face off with city rival, Wofford, in a dual-meet at Broome High School, and will then travel to Athens, Ga. for the Georgia Bulldog Limited on Saturday.
