Hurricanes Win Third BIG EAST Title
May 6, 2001
PISCATAWAY,NJ–Senior All-American Natalie Watson (CoralSprings) won the 800-meters and sophomore Jamillah Wade (Philadelphia, PA)finished first in the 400-meter hurdles to lead the University of Miamiwomen’s track and field team to its third conference title in the last fouryears at the BIG EAST Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Piscataway, NJ.
Miami finished with 104 points followed by Seton Hall (95),Georgetown (83) and NotreDame (83). Following the meet head coach Amy Deemand her staff was honored as the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year. Theaward is the fourth in six years for Deem and her staff who also won the awardin 1996, 1998 and 1999.
“This was definitely a team effort,” said Deem. “Our women had alot of confidence coming into the meet and they took advantage of everyopportunity. We couldn’t afford to make any mistakes this weekend and our kidsmade everything go their way.”
Watson, ranked eighth in the nation in the 800-meters, easilyoutdistanced the field finishing with a time of 2:07.34 despite runningagainst a strong wind. Watson, who finished nearly one full second ahead ofher nearest competitor, is the first runner in school-history to win the BIGEAST outdoor 800-meter title.
Wade, ranked 21st in the nation, won the 400-meter hurdles with atime of 59.40. Miami has dominated the event in recent years winning five ofthe last six BIG EAST Championships.
Even with the tremendous individual performances the meet camedown to the final event, the 4×400-meter relay.
Leading Seton Hall by five points with only one event remainingthe Hurricanes needed a strong performance from its 17th-ranked relay team ofWade, freshman Kitoya Carter (Miami Northwestern), junior Jenise Winston(League City, TX) andsophomore Saraque Whittaker (Ft. Lauderdale St. ThomasAquinas). The foursome delivered and clinched the championship by finishingsecond with its second-fastest time of the season (3:37.33).
Miami’s jumpers continued their strong performances this weekendand got the Hurricanes off to a solid start finishing second, third, fourthand seventh in the long jump.
Leading the Hurricane long jumperswas sophomore Gina Harris (Philadelphia,PA) who finished second with a season-best jump of 6.15 meters(20-02.25).Junior All-American Kareen Clarke (Lithonic, GA), the 2001 BIGEAST triple jump champion, finished third with a jump of 6.10 meters(20-00.25)followed by senior Antonnikka Owens (Orlando, FL) in fourth(5.99meters/19-08.00) and junior Raquel Scott (Dallas, TX) in seventh(5.79meters/19-00.00).
Over the weekend the Hurricane jumpers accounted for 45 pointsincluding first, second, fifth and seventh-place finishes in the triple jumpon Saturday.
Clarke and Harris later joinedCarter and Terria Madison (Columbus, GA) infinishing fourth in the 4×100-meter relay (46.65).
In the 400-meters, Whittaker broke the school-record for the secondconsecutive day. Whittaker, who established anew UM record in Saturday’s400-meter semifinal, finished second in the final with a new school-recordtime of 53.45.
Senior Shannon Sarabyn (Centreville, VA) also scored for Miamifinishing eighth in the 5,000-meters(17:30.25).
