April 12, 2008

Complete Results in PDF Format

UTEP Invitational. Photos by Ivan Pierre Aguirre

The UTEP track and field teams took care of business at the UTEP Invitational today, qualifying athletes for the NCAA Regionals in twelve individual events and one relay.

"We had some good performances," UTEP head coach Bob Kitchens said. "We didn't need to be great today - what we needed was to be consistently good, and that's what we were. I'm pleased with the regional qualifying times. That is what we wanted to do."

The 12th-ranked women dominated both running and field events as they hit regional marks in nine events.

Keisha Walkes earned two regional-qualifying marks, topping the field in the shot put with a mark of 15.89m and hitting 47.83m in the discus for runner-up honors.

UTEP took home the top two spots in the triple jump after Blessing Okagbare and Nelly Tchayem unleashed respective NCAA regional qualifying marks of 13.81 and 13.58. Okagbare's mark is the best in the NCAA and seventh on the world list for 2008.

High school standout Jessica Ubanyionwu of Eastwood hit the field in the triple jump unattached, leaping to a fifth-place finish at 12.32m, equaling the current NCAA regional mark.

Miner Nina Schvedoff was in a class of her own in the hammer throw, unleashing a regional-qualifying toss of 59.87m to win by almost 10 meters.

The Miners women started off the running events by dominating the 4X100 meter relay, winning the event behind a regional-qualifying time of 44.57, to edge second place Rice by more than half a second.

In the 800-meter run, the Orange and Blue secured two of the top three finishers. Kelly Young left the field in her dust with a season-best and NCAA regional qualifying mark of 2:08.32 for the fastest time in the conference this year. Happy Mary Bacia stopped the clock at 2:13.35 to claim third place.

The winning ways continued in the 100-meter hurdles, as Quashanda Welch hit a regional mark, edging out Houston's Seun Adigun in a wind-aided readout of 13.59, besting her previous time as C-USA's best mark of the year.

Halimat Ismaila raced to an NCAA regional-qualifying 23.53 time in the 200-meter dash, a conference best, snagging runner-up honors. Teammate Shalaiyah Sommerville brought home fifth place after crossing the line in 23.89.

It was a runaway victory for the Orange and Blue's Jepchirchir Kigen in the 1500-meter run, as second-place finisher Christina Herrera of NMSU was almost six seconds behind Kigen's time of 4:43.73.

The Miners' Laura Clarke earned runner-up distinction in the 3000-meter steeplechase, on the strength of an 11:22.77 finish. Brissia Montalvo and Megan Chojnacki earned fifth and sixth with respective readouts of 11:53.31 and 12:17.55.

In the 4X400 Meter Relay, the Miners' top foursome cruised to a second-place outcome after stopping the clock in 3:48.57.

In the high jump, Teresa Contreras' season-high-equaling clearance of 1.60m was good enough to bring home fourth place.

In the 400-meter hurdles, Chasity Ross churned to a season-best 1:04.12 to earn a third-place result.

The men, currently ranked fifth in the nation, qualified four athletes. Standouts Mickael Hanany and Alex van der Merwe did not compete.

The Miners nabbed the top two positions in the hammer throw, as Dimitrios Fylladitakis and Hans Eriksson went one-two with respective tosses of 61.67m and 60.84m. Both distances are regional-qualifying marks.

The Miners swept the top-three finishers in the 1500-meter run, with Nicodemus Ng'etich, Jpaheth Ng'ojoy and Patrick Mutai stopping the clock in respective times of 3:50.31, 3:52.65 and 3:53.09. Ng'etich's time hit the regional mark.

Mutai was just heating up, though, as he blazed to gold with an NCAA regional-qualifying time of 8:33.82 in the 3000-meter run. The mark is the best in the NCAA this year.

The fans were treated to the world's best times in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash runs, courtesy of former Miner standout Churandy Martina's blistering readouts of 10.00 and 20.17, respectively.

UTEP's Anderson Mutegi earned fifth thanks to a 21.31 clocking, which narrowly missed an NCAA regional time, while fellow Miner Ronalds Arajs secured eighth.

In one of the more exciting events of the day, the Miners' rallied on the final leg of the 4X400 meter relay to overcome a large deficit and take home the event title in a season-best 3:12.01.

Joshua Short finished fifth in both the 110 and 400-meter hurdle events, with respective times of 14.69 and 59.64.