Weather Cannot Stop Flashes Onslaught at All-Ohio Championships
4/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
ATHENS, Ohio - Most of the time, one or two athletes can be singled out at a track and field meet as helping to lead the team in a strong effort. That is not the case for Kent State this weekend as numerous track and field athletes recorded personal bests.
"There were so many good performances at the meet by numerous individuals on the men's and women's side, I do not know who to give accolades to over another," said Director of Track and Field/CC Bill Lawson. "Things are really starting to come together and I like where we are with Sea Ray and the Northeast Quad last week and the meet this week, especially with the weather conditions not being very good."
The women captured the team title with 151 points and the men finished second behind Dayton with 150 points at the All-Ohio Championships, hosted by Ohio University this weekend (April 16-17).
"Most people brought their whole team for the most part and we didn't even compete Curtis Eaton Jr. in and Princeton Bryson in the 200," Lawson explained. "Curtis didn't even compete at all while Dean Wood stayed at home. We didn't load up our relay or have Aiman Scullion and Brian Florek. There's a lot more depth on the men's side. This is the closest we have been to loading up, but now, we will pull them back and load up at the MAC meet."
The women won despite not competing everyone.
"On the women's side, even though we won, we didn't compete Diana Dumitrescu as she rested," Lawson said. "We decided not to compete her because the conditions were terrible. We also didn't compete Brenda Baar or any competitors in the 1500 meters. There is a lot more fire power out there."
It was a stellar weekend for the distance team. Senior Aiman Scullion broke the school record in the 10,000 meters Thursday night with a time of 29:29.09 in California, while fifth-year senior Andrew Carnes followed that up with the fourth-best time in the 10k on Friday night with a 29:51.28. Not to be outdone, Lizarribar captured the 10,000 championship on the women's side by two seconds with a time of 35:44.58, her first collegiate 10k.
"It was a big weekend with Alexandra Lizarribar in the 10,000 with Kassandra Meholick, who also had a good run," Lawson said. "It was also a great 1-2 run with Aiman Scullion going 29:29 in California and Andrew Carnes going 29:51 in the 10k in Ohio. Through and through, it was a great track meet."
Wrapping up the distance running on Saturday was junior Scott Hilditch in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the ninth-fastest time in school history.
"It was Hilditch's first steeplechase ever and he goes out and runs a 9:11 on a super windy day," Lawson said. "He is going to run at least 15 seconds faster before the end of the season. He is going to be a very good steepler. It was a very good job by Coach Mark Croghan in that arena."
The throws, under the direction of 10th-year assistant coach Nathan Fanger, also had a great day despite the windy and cold conditions.
"I believe Coach Nathan Fanger's throwers had nine PRs today. What a great job by them. The throws are really starting to come through," Lawson said.
Junior Samantha Fetter captured the title in the women's shot put with a PR of 51'-4.5" (15.65 meters), more than a foot further than her previous best. Senior Brittney Borrero and junior Bekah Stoltz finished second and third in the discus with throws of 171'-8" (52.32 meters) and 161'-5" (49.22 meters), respectively.
On the men's side, senior Tony Connor and redshirt sophomore Aaron Crabtree led the throws. Connor took the title in the discuss with a mark of 173'-11" (53.03 meters). Crabtree competed in a trio of events, taking fourth in the discus (169'-3," 51.60 meters), fifth in the hammer throw (186'-11," 56.97 meters) and seventh in the shot put (54'-10.25," 16.72 meters).
"Aaron Crabtree had a very good day with three lifetime PR's," Lawson said. "Here is a young man who transferred from Ohio State last year and had a training accident in the middle of indoor season and was out for two weeks. Now, he has come back and is a very good discus, hammer, and shot put thrower. It was a very good performance all-around by him."
The women's 400 hurdlers kept their early season success going at the All-Ohio Championships. Sophomore Andreea Patrasc took the top spot, finishing in 1:01.82. Sophomore Paige Wray took second with a time of 1:02.08 while senior Rachel Crafton finished off the Kent State sweep by taking third with a time of 1:02.16.
"We have huge strength on the track from our intermediate hurdlers. That will be a major strength at the MAC Championships," Lawson said. "Once again at this meet, it was the 400 hurdlers on the women's side and especially Paige Wray. She didn't win the event, but she had a lifetime PR as we finished 1-2-3."
Finally, freshman Keith Hurst turned in a solid performance in the decathlon. He finished second in the event with a 10th-best school mark of 6,427 points.
"That was Keith Hurst's first decathlon," Lawson explained. "He went 6400 and change as a true freshman and six months ago, he didn't even know what half of the events were. He has come a long way and he can even get 200-400 more points by the MAC Championships. We need to get Dexter Shreve, Michael Schober and Ruben Belen healthy."
Kent State returns to action next week in three different locations, including some athletes going to the Drake Relays in DesMoines, Iowa while others will be going to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
"As long as we can keep everyone healthy, it puts us in a good position on the men's and women's side four weeks out from the MAC Championships, Lawson said. "We just have to clean up a few things. We had a chance to win the 4x100 on the men's side, but Brian Hilson had to pull up on the third leg coming around the corner. We were able to hand the baton off and Nathan Scales had a great close, but I think that team has the capability to run over a second faster."
"Once we put all of our eggs in one basket, I think we are going to have a much better performance on the men's side than we did indoors. The women just need to continue doing what they're doing and they will be in great shape," Lawson added.
