Trackwomen take fourth in Boston; Walker lone qualifier for nationals

By MIKE MITSTIFER
Collegian Staff Writer

In a meet where the Penn State women's indoor track team was hoping to focus on individual performances, by entering a few athletes into NCAA Indoor Nationals in Indianapolis, the Lady Lions recorded one of their better team finishes of the year.

"The main goal wasn't to win, it was to qualify," coach Teri Jordan said of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships in Boston this past weekend. "Overall, the meet was still a good one for us."

After entering all the participants they wanted to give opportunities to compete at the event, the coaches decided to leave a little early, hoping to make it back to State College before midnight. The Lions left Boston in first place overall with 49 points, holding a 16-point lead over second-place West Virginia.

When the dust settled, Penn State's 49 points were good enough for fourth place overall, trailing first-place George Mason (101), Pittsburgh (70.5) and West Virginia (62.5).

Only one of Penn State's provisional qualifiers, Shakeema Walker, will be making the trip to Indianapolis, as Deshaya Williams' provisional qualifying mark in the shot put fell just short.

Williams, a freshman for Penn State, failed to up her provisional qualifying mark in the shot put. She still placed second with a throw of 48-11½.

Her throw at Big Tens remained her best, but it wasn't enough for her to qualify. Throughout the year, Williams led a group of standout underclassmen that has led Jordan to look optimistically toward the future.

"We have a good bunch of underclassmen that won't back down from a challenge," said Williams. "We should be very competitive down the line."

Freshman Stacie Bouchard is another member of that talented group. She finished sixth in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17 minutes, 26.26 seconds. In addition, senior Allison Carr placed sixth in the mile (4:52.59), her last indoor event.

As expected, Penn State's lone qualifier for nationals, Walker, was held back slightly in an attempt to get her fully prepared for this weekend's nationals. Jordan feels the Lions gave up 10 team points in the process, but it was a small price to pay. Walker recorded a 20-5¼ distance in the long jump before pulling out of the triple jump, an event she likely would have won, to rest a slight leg strain. The injury isn't serious and shouldn't be a problem for her this weekend.

Among the near misses for nationals was Toyin Augustus, whose 8.48 time in the 60-meter high hurdles was good enough for third place, but not good enough to go to Indianapolis. Tiffany Glenn came up on the short end of a near three-way tie in the 60-yard dash, still finishing sixth after judges were forced to look at thousandths of a second to determine placement.

The high jump was an especially successful event for the Lions, as they posted two top-five finishes. Felicia Cooksey's leap of 5-9 was the second-place height while Jen Aylward posted a fifth-place height of 5-7.

The majority of the Lions now look forward to the outdoor season where a top-three Big Ten finish is not out of the question.

"We have to feel fairly good going into the outdoor season," Jordan said.

For Walker, though, the pinnacle of her season may await.