UM Women's Track Prepares For BIG EAST Championships
Feb. 21, 2003
Syracuse, NY (hurricanesports.com) – The 18th-ranked University of Miami women’s track and field team looks to win its first team title when it travels to the BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships, February 22-23, in Syracuse, NY.
The Miami women, who have won four of the last five BIG EAST Outdoor Championships, have finished either second or third in each of the last six BIG EAST Indoor Championships.
Head coach Amy Deem brings a deep and talented group to this year’s championships headed by All-American Lauryn Williams (Rochester, PA) and freshman sensation Charlette Greggs (Miami Northwestern).
Last season Williams won the 60-meter and 200-meter titles en route to being named the 2002 BIG EAST Indoor Most Outstanding Track Athlete. This season she ranks No. 1 in the BIG EAST in the 60-meters (7.25) and second in the conference in the 200-meters (23.86).
The No. 1 ranked 200-meter runner in the BIG EAST is Greggs (23.56) who is competing in her first season of indoor track. Greggs also ranks second in the conference in the 400-meters (53.66) and runs the anchor leg of UM’s top ranked 4×400-meter relay (3:37.05).
Overall Miami qualified five sprinters in the 60-meters and seven sprinters in the 200-meters. The Hurricanes also qualified six runners in the 400-meters including All-Americans Saraque Whittaker (54.50), Kitoya Carter (54.83), Sashanie Simpson (55.07) and Jamillah Wade (55.58).
Senior Sharianne Lawson, the 2002 BIG EAST 100-meter hurdle champion, ranks No. 1 in the conference in the 60-meter hurdles having posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 8.28. Lawson will also contend in the long jump along with senior All-American Gina Harris.
In the 800-meters the Hurricanes will look to senior Patricia Pearson who has posted a season-best time of 2:09.13.
Miami will look to Jennifer Penrose and Adrienne Moss in the throws. Penrose (15.31 meters) and Moss (15.02 meters) rank second and third in the conference respectively in the shot put, while Moss has posted the league’s fifth-best mark in the weight throw (16.22 meters).
Sophomore Amber Williams, a runner-up in the pentathlon at last season’s conference championships, heads into this year’s championships having won the State Farms Games in Morgantown, WV with a score of 3,529 points.
