Carter and Hooker earn All-American honors on first day of NCAA Indoor Championships
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Senior shot putter Michelle Carter and sophomore high jumper Destinee Hooker scored a combined 14 points and earned All-American honors on day one (Friday, March 9) of the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. The women's team sits in fifth-place with 14 points. Projected national champion Arizona State leads the pack with 21 points, followed by second-place LSU (20 points), third-place Tennessee (19 points) and fourth-place aGeorgia (18 points). Senior Michelle Carter (Ovilla, Texas) put the Longhorns on the board first with a season-best throw of 59-5.5 (18.12-meters). She hit the mark on her final throw ever at an NCAA Indoor National Championship, putting her in first place by one centimeter over Arizona State's Sarah Stevens. Stevens, however, stepped into the shot put circle for her final throw and edged Carter by four centimeters (59-7/18.16-meters) for the 2007 national title. Carter ends her indoor college career as one of the best throwers in Longhorns' history. UT's all-time leader in the shot put earned her third All-American honor and second runner-up performance in three attempts. Sophomore high jumper Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) earned her second indoor and third overall All-American honors with a 6-1.25 (1.86-meters) clearance over the bar. She contributed six points towards the team finish behind a pair of Georgia high jumpers (senior Patty Sylvester and sophomore Levern Spencer) who registered 6-2.25 (1.89-meters). "It definitely impacts the entire team when you have two national leaders come up short but these things happen," said head coach Bev Kearney. "You'll pull some upsets and sometimes be upset. That's just the impact of the meet. The one thing you can't count on is what happened before. For us to get two people in the 60-meter gives us a big boost. But that's the sport." "We know we're going to be a better team outdoor than indoor," continued Kearney. "There were a lot of kinks that we had to work out. We missed a lot of days at practice with the weather earlier this year. Whatever we accomplish during the indoor season we know we are going to be much better outdoor. Nothing that happens is overwhelming because this the halfway mark in the season." All-American sprinters Alexandria Anderson (Chicago, Ill.) and Chauntae Bayne (Saginaw, Texas) advanced to the finals of the 60-meter dash. Second-year Longhorn Anderson equaled her season- and career-bests with a preliminary race time of 7.25. Bayne eclipsed her fastest time of the year with a 7.31 effort to return to the indoor final for her second consecutive season. Anderson also competed in the 200-meter dash, running a lifetime best 23.35 for 12th overall. She entered the meet with the 17th-fastest time in the nation and shaved almost two-tenths of a second off her personal best mark. On Saturday, junior Ashley Laughlin (Marble Falls, Texas) competes in the pole vault at 5 pm (CT), and Anderson and Bayne set up in the blocks for the 60-meter dash at 7:15 pm (CT). NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships High Jump Shot Put 60-meter Dash Preliminary 200-meter Dash Preliminary
|
|
