Women's Track and Field claims NCAA Indoor Championships
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The University of Texas women's indoor track and field squad entered day two of the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships with the overall lead and never let up on day two, as Texas captured its sixth NCAA women's indoor track and field championship Saturday at the University of Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center. Texas claimed the NCAA team title with 51 points, while Stanford took a distant second with 36 points. Head coach Bev Kearney wins her sixth NCAA team title at Texas and her seventh overall. Notably, the Longhorns now have won back-to-back NCAA track championships after claiming the 2005 NCAA outdoor title last June in Sacramento, Calif. "These ladies did a phenomenal job this week of putting together the type of meet we knew it would take to win the (NCAA) Championship," said Kearney, the 2006 NCAA South Central Region Coach of the Year. "They just refused to lose. They had the faith, heart and desire to get this done, and I couldn't be more proud of them." Junior Marshevet Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) added her first NCAA 60-meter title Saturday to the long jump title she captured on Friday. Hooker clocked a personal-best time of 7.197, edging UNLV's Ashley Owens by three one-thousandths of a second. Hooker ended the two-day meet with 25 points after securing two NCAA individual titles and a fourth-place finish in Friday's 200-meter dash. Junior Michelle Carter (Ovilla, Texas) collected her first NCAA shot put title, winning the event with a personal-best toss of 60-10.75 (18.56m). She topped her own UT record mark of 58-7.25 set exactly one year ago at the 2005 NCAA Championships. She becomes Texas' first NCAA indoor shot put champion since 1994, when former Longhorn great Eileen Vanisi captured the title. Texas' 4X400-meter relay squad added six points to the Longhorns' tally by placing third in the event. Senior Sheretta Jones (Houston, Texas) opened the relay before handing off to freshman Alexandria Anderson (Chicago, Ill.), who gave way to senior LaTashia Kerr (Houston, Texas). Senior Melaine Walker (Kingston, Jamaica) anchored the relay to a final time of 3:30.76, providing the finishing touches on Texas' NCAA title victory.
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