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 Fordham's Matt DiBuono captured gold in the hammer throw |
May 2, 2009
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Multiple Atlantic 10 Conference records fell on the opening day of the 2009 Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center on the Charlotte campus. Charlotte senior long jumper Pat Springs made conference history by winning the long jump event for the fourth straight time, to become the first ever conference athlete to pull in four conference titles in a single event.
Springs was victorious in the long jump with a first place finishing leap of 20'7", good enough to qualify the Niner jumper for the NCAA Division I East Region Championships. Springs also posted a regional qualifying time in the 100 meter hurdles with a 13.91 second finish in the Saturday' s prelims.
Following Springs' victory, conference records began to fall left and right in the field and relay events.
Charlotte's Jake Wainright snapped the conference long jump record on the men's side with a 24'9 ¼" leap to claim first-place honors in the event. Wainright snapped the former standard set by fellow Niner Lamarcus Outing at the 2006 A-10 Outdoor Championships en route to turning in a regional qualifying mark.
Keeping things in the field, Rhode Island's Jasmine Jennings took down her own record in the women's hammer throw as she turned in a winning toss of 203'1". Jennings' previous record was set at last season's conference championships. With her winning throw, Jennings etched her name to the list of participants at the regional championships, while runner up Amanda Cole also turned in a regional qualifying throw with a 179'3" toss.
Turning to the track, the 4x800 meter relay for both the men's and women's squads turned out to be thrilling as was expected as the Charlotte women started things off by setting a new conference mark in the event. The quartet of Christina Hobbs, Jackie Ross, Stephanie Snyder and Aja Jackson won the event in a time of 8:53.73 to break the old record, set by La Salle in 2006 by 33 hundredths of a second.
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After an exceptionally thrilling finish on the women's side, the men followed things up with an even more exciting finish as Saint Joseph's held off La Salle at the end to record the victory and set a new conference mark in the process. Luke Fischer, Steve Young, Jesse Brooks and Brian Guterl turned in a winning time of 7:28.10 to break the former record, held by Charlotte, by nearly a second.
At the end of the night, Saint Joseph's Will Rowland turned in an exceptional performance in the 10,000 meter run as he destroyed the conference record in the event by over 18 seconds with a time of 29:46.66. Runner-up Josh Eddy from Duquesne also went underneath the former conference meet record of 30:04.
In the men's steeplechase, five runners went under the regional qualifying time, with Richmond's Andrew Benford leading the way with an 8:52.41 finish. Duquesne's Derek Dutille placed second in a top of 8:55.83 while Charlotte's Dakota Lowery placed third with a 9:03.85 finish. Rounding out the five qualifiers in the event were Xavier's Luke Beuerlein (9:04.68) and Saint Joseph's Kyle Murray (9:05.48).
Charlotte's Keara Thomas was the winner of the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a finishing time of 10:43.05 to win the event and hit a regional qualifying time.
In the women's high jump, Rhode Island's Shayna Daughtery picked up the victory, equaling the regional qualifying mark in the event with a 5'8 ¾" jump.
Flipping back to the men's field events, Fordham's Matt DiBuono was victorious in the hammer throw with a 208'5" toss, while runner up Grant West turned in a 196'5" performance. Both athletes qualified for the regional championships with the throws in the event.
Staying with the field events, Rhode Island's Derek Peterson qualified for the regional championships with a 173'7" toss to win the event.
In the men's 110 meter hurdles, Isaac McReynolds hit a regional qualifying time in the prelims with a time of 14.12 seconds which was the top preliminary time.
After the first day of competition, in a situation eerily reminiscent of the 2009 Indoor Championships, the Dayton Flyers find themselves in first place with 53.50 points on the women's side. Richmond is just behind Dayton in second place with 52.50 points, Rhode Island is in third with 48.50 points, the three-time defending champions, Charlotte, is in fourth with 44 points while Massachusetts rounds out the top five with 32 points.
On the men's side, Charlotte has opened a 13.5 point lead on the field with 75.50 points after the opening day. In the runner-up spot, Temple led for the majority of the day before finishing the evening with 62 points. Rounding out the top five were Rhode Island (57), Duquesne (41) and Saint Joseph's (27).
The All-Conference teams are comprised of the top two finishers in each event.
Competition was held up for two hours during the day due to a thunderstorm system that passed through the Charlotte area around the five o'clock hour. Action resumed at seven o'clock and put things two hours behind schedule.
Sunday is the final day of the Atlantic 10 Championships as the sprint finals will take place throughout the day with the women's 4x100 meter relay kicking off the track events at 10:00 a.m. while the men's shot put opens up the field events at the same time. The multi-events will resume competition starting at 8:45 p.m. with the men's decathlon.
