Emory University junior Theresa Ford, senior Ian Francis and sophomore Scott Greathouse each won events during the first day of competition at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Track and Field Championships, putting the Eagles in strong position to contend for the team titles on day two.
After one day of competition, the Emory women are in second place with 31 points, trailing only Washington University (Mo.) which has 55 points. However, the Eagles will enter the second day in strong position to make a run to repeat as UAA Champions, with 11 women qualifying for the finals on Sunday (the top-six finishers in each of the preliminary events advance to the finals).
On the men's side, the Eagles also scored 31 points, but sit in third place behind the University of Chicago (36 points) and Washington (32 points). Three of Emory's men qualified for the sprint finals on Sunday.
Ford won the women's long jump with a distance of 5.48 meters, tied for the fifth longest in school history, collecting 10 points for the Eagles in the process. The mark ties her for the 19th-longest among Division III athletes this season.
Francis won the long jump on the men's side, with a leap of 7.10 meters, ranking him second in school history and 11th in Division III this season.
Meanwhile, Greathouse added a conference title in the high jump, winning the event by clearing the bar at 2.03 meters, the 15th-best height cleared by a Division III athlete this season.
Emory also had a school-record setting performance from its distance medley relay team of junior Calley Edwards, sophomore Gabrielle Clark, sophomore Emily Caesar and freshman Stephanie Crane, who finished third in the event to earn all-UAA honors. The team's mark of 12:05.26 breaks the previous school record of 12:11.79 set in 2005, and ranks as the 11th-fastest mark in D-III this season.
Adding all-UAA finishes in individual women's events on the first day were senior Tess Gallegos in the 5,000-meter run (third-place, 17:51.46) and freshman Emily Mitchell in the long jump (third-place, 5.22 meters). In the pole vault, freshmen Miriam Cash and Elaina Kim finished fifth and sixth, respectively, to combine for three points for Emory.
Emory qualified three women in both the 200-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles during the first day's preliminaries. Freshman Debora Adjibaba paced the Eagles with a second-place finish in the 200 with a time of 26.12 seconds, followed by senior Alix Dyer in third (26.27 seconds) and senior Lauren Attiah in fourth (26.27 seconds). In the 60-meter hurdles, senior Jasmine McCullough claimed a second-place finish (9.18 seconds) followed by sophomore Morgan Monroe in third (9.20 seconds) and senior Laura Lambie-Hanson in sixth (9.53 seconds).
Adjibaba and McCullough claimed the top-two spots in the preliminaries of the 60-meter dash as well, finishing with times of 7.82 seconds and 7.91 seconds, respectively. In the 400-meter dash, junior Kaele Leonard finished second with a time of 58.80 seconds, while Dyer also earned a spot in the finals, finishing third with a time of 59.15 seconds. Emory's final first-day qualifier was Caesar, who finished fifth in the 800-meter run preliminaries with a time of 2:18.58, the fourth-fastest in school history.
The men's distance medley relay team added an all-UAA honor for the Eagles, as sophomore Edward Mulder, sophomore Nick Cortellessa, freshman Patrick Crews and junior Stephen Ellwood finished in second-place with a time of 10:12.19, the fourth-fastest mark in school history. Adding individual scoring performances on the first day were sophomore Mike Moserowitz and junior Pat Lanter, who finished in fifth and sixth place in the long jump.
Qualifying for the finals in the men's sprints were freshman Gui Silva in the 200-meter dash (fifth place, 22.65 seconds) and 400-meter dash (fourth place, 50.65 seconds) and junior Isaac Chambers in the 400-meter dash (fifth place, 50.92 seconds).
Action at the UAA Championships will resume on Sunday morning at 10:15 AM with the field events, while the running events will resume at 11:30 AM.
Eagles Win Three Conference Titles during Day 1 of UAA’s
Posted: Feb 25, 2012