Trackwomen kick off new season with win

The Penn State women's track team started the 1998 season in style this weekend at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. -- the Lady Lions came away first in the five team meet.

Penn State finished with a score of 109 and Georgetown finished second with a final score of 77. Cornell, Rutgers and Colgate rounded out the top five in the event Penn State also won last year.

"It was a fabulous start for the team in every phase," coach Teri Jordan said. "I am really looking forward to the upcoming events."

Jordan was also impressed with the performances she got out of her freshmen. Olutoyin Augustus, Breyana Cardwell, Melinda Brown and Mary Acker all placed in the top five in their respective events, but it was Augustus who stole the show.

Augustus, competing in her first collegiate event, won the 55-meter dash, the 55- meter hurdles and the long jump.

"It was very exciting but yet nerve wrecking competing in my first collegiate meet," Augustus said. "I was looking forward to this since high school."

In the 55-meter dash, Augustus finished in 7.1 seconds to beat out sophomore Nicole Paul. Then Augustus ran an 8.2 in the 55-meter hurdles to finish ahead of teammate Sharaie Darby.

It was a clean sweep for the long jumpers as Augustus, sophomore Kristin Zimmerman and senior Shakeema Walker finished first, second and third respectively.

Zimmerman and Walker followed up their finishes in the long jump by finishing first and second in the triple jump respectively.

Senior Kim Hicks won the shot put with a throw of 13.70 meters. Junior Mary Jo Faust finished third in the same event.

Penn State also took the top spots in the high jump with senior captain Carleen Martin and sophomore Felicia Cooksey finishing first and second respectively.

Martin set a personal best and just missed qualifying for nationals with a jump of 1.72 meters, but still thought that she could have done better.

"I am pleased with my performance , but I know that I could have qualified for the nationals," Martin said.

In the 400 meters, sophomore Laila Brock turned in one of her best performances winning the event with a time of 56.8 seconds.

Many of the players said the success at Rutgers had a lot to do with the work ethics of new assistant coach Caroll Smith.

"Even though we were only practicing for a week, coach Smith really had us ready to compete," Martin said.

Next week the team will travel to Ohio to compete against Kent State in hopes of repeating their success of the past weekend.