Rain Delay Does Not Dampen Miami's Performance
April 16, 2011
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami held it’s final home meet of the 2011 track and field season at Cobb Stadium Saturday, and not even a two-hour rain delay could stop the Hurricanes from earning 28 top-ten finishes.
Top performers for the Canes included a pair of All-America honorees in junior Devon Hill and senior Ti’erra Brown. In her final home meet as a Hurricane, Brown finished on top, earning first place in the women’s 100m hurdles with a time of 13.16 seconds and placing fourth in the women’s 400m dash with a 54.53 time that bested her ACC-first-place mark of 56.91.
Hill held the second highest collegiate finish in the men’s 110m hurdles with his time of 13.98 seconds also finished second overall in the men’s 400m hurdles clocking a time of 52.93 seconds.
“I’m very pleased with Ti’erra Brown and Devon Hill today,” said Director of Track and Field Amy Deem. “I thought [Devon] ran a great 400m hurdle race for his first of the season. Ti’erra hasn’t run the short hurdles all season and I thought that was a great opener for her.”
Before the showers, senior Megan Novinger placed third in the high jump with a leap of 1.74m (5-10.50) while sophomore Kirsten Myers and junior Rachel Dupree tied for fourth in the event with equal marks of 1.59m (5-02.50).
Also in women’s high jump, former UM All-America selection Victoria Andonova came within one-hundredth of a meter of matching her 2007 1.83m (6-00.00) school record with a height of 1.82m (5-11.50).
Elsewhere in the field, junior Miranda Wilson’s 53.77m (176-05) toss placed her in third for the women’s hammer throw, while junior Ashley Holmes reached a mark of 52.17m (171-02), good for sixth in the event.
Then came the rain.
For two hours Cobb Stadium was covered by April showers, and for two hours coaches and athletes from the 14 participating programs waited for conditions to clear. Finally, at 6 p.m., events began with the women’s 4x100m relay.
The wait must have provided Miami with some necessary time to focus, as the UM foursome of junior Charlene Fuller, senior Ashley Dukes, senior Takecia Jameson and freshman Alyssa McClure clocked a time of 44.95 to finish fourth in the race.
The success continued for the Canes from there.
A pair of Canes finished in the Top 3 of the women’s 400m hurdles as freshman Thandi Stewart placed second with a time of 58.26 and Jameson took third with her time of 59.00.
Another UM duo earned the top two collegiate places in women’s shot put as freshman Kyla Buckley finished second with at 14.91m (48-11.00) throw and junior Holmes tossed for 13.88m (45-06.50) which was good enough for third in the event.
Holmes had another third place performance later in the day, this time in women’s discuss where she reached a mark of 45.41m (149-00).
In the women’s 1500m run, freshman Lindsi Arrington recorded a time of 4:37.29 to earn a second place finish in the event, while sophomore Allison Ludwick finished sixth with a time of 4:53.66.
On the men’s side of the 1500m run, two Hurricanes also finished in the Top 10. Freshman Luke Fontaine and sophomore Greg Kaczka earned times of 3:57.90 and 3:58.11, respectively, to place fifth and sixth out of the 33 competitors that participated.
Alongside Brown, in the women’s 100m hurdles, were fellow Canes Jameson, Dupree and Nicole Cummings, finishing sixth (13.60), seventh (14.14) and eighth (14.46) respectively.
Cummings earned another sixth place finish in women’s long jump with her leap of 5.76 (18-10.75).
Three Hurricanes placed in the Top 10 of the women’s 5000m run. Freshmen Brooke Dovell placed fourth (17:53.34), senior Emma Steppe ended sixth (18:02.74) and freshman Cristina Brea earned tenth place (19:19.42) in the run.
In the 800m run, two Hurricanes placed — junior Jennifer Estime finished fourth with a time of 2:18.53 for the women, and junior Austin Rector placed 11th for the men at 1:56.51.
Former Cane and National Champion Lauryn Williams outpaced the field of 36 women to win the 200m dash in 22.60 seconds.
Hurricanes finished in the Top 10 of their respective events 28 times on the day. An impressive showing as the team prepares for the 2011 ACC Outdoor Championships in Durham, N.C., April 21-23.
Prior to the running events, a ceremony was held to remember to great Hurricanes that were lost in the past year; former UM All-America selection Ronald Thorne and Hurricane supporter Ralph Lewis.
Ralph was just such a positive person to be around. Whether he was at the ACC meet or a high school meet, he was an inspiration to everyone he came in contact with, he was very close to the program,” said Deem. “Ronald like Ralph had a great passion for young people and he was our first real strong middle distance runner. He would have been her tonight with the other alumni. They both will be sorely missed.”
A schedule of all of UM Track and Field’s upcoming events is available here.
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