From The Ring
4/26/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Outdoor Track
April 25, 2000
Each week, senior thrower Lori Perrie will share her thoughts on the 2000 Golden Eagle Season. Here is this week's entry:
I would like to apologize for being so tardy in keeping this "diary" updated. The student part of "student-athlete" was taking over for a while there. With finals week fast approaching, many of us have lots of assignments and term papers due. Like myself, I'm sure many athletes have known about these assignments and put them off to the last minute. I would like to think that I work best under pressure. I am sure my professors think otherwise.
Anyway, I really don't remember the last time I wrote so I will go all the way back to The Big Blue Classic at Eastern Illinois University. Not many members of the women's track and field team competed here due to inclement weather. Megan Kosman did complete the heptathalon before the worst of it hit. She finished in fourth with a total score of 4,136 points. On the Saturday morning we woke up to a light covering of snow on the ground, 30 mile per hour winds and frigid temperatures. Many from our team went home without competing. The throwers stayed, however, and performed fairly well. Crystal Larson broke my old freshman hammer record and placed eighth with a throw of 41.90m (137'5"). I placed second (but first collegiate performer) in hammer with a throw of 176'9" setting a new Marquette record.
The following weekend, a select group of individuals traveled to sunny California to potentially participate in three meets during our stay there. The outstanding performance that stands out in my mind was that of Bethany Harry in the 5 km race at the Long Beach State Invitational. She took the lead from the start and pushed herself to shave 17 seconds off of her previous best time. She placed first with a time of 17:35.48min. Also at Long Beach, Junior Megan Kosman set a Marquette women's pole vault record clearing 2.89m (9'6"). Jeannette Batie set a school record in the 400 hurdles, placing second, with a time of 61.03sec. FlaTria Horne, placing 6th, ran under 12 seconds in the 100m dash for the first time of her collegiate career with a time of 11.95 sec.
At the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational, highlights included Jessica Swan's performance in the 3000m, placing second and running a new personal best time of 9:57.23min. Anne Schneider also made her presence known in the 10 km race by placing third with a time of 38:20.98min.
At the Mt. SAC Relays, our women's 4X400m relay team sprinted to a third -place finish in a time of 3:41.50min. Comprised of Jennifer and Jeannette Batie, Sher-ree Beekman and Fla Tria Horne, the girls set a new school record. Susan Barth also had a great race in the 10000m race, placing her 3rd all time in Marquette history, setting a freshman record and a new personal best time in that event. Not bad for a freshman!!
I think the meets in California proved that we have great depth and can compete in weather conditions we don't normally train in. This is a great indicator of what we can expect at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships in two weeks at Tulane University in New Orleans.
This past weekend we participated in the Marquette Invite. Teams competing included conference rival Depaul, UW-Lacrosse, UW-Milwaukee, Wisconsin, North Central College and Northwestern University. I really didn't get to see much of the track events and have not seen results. I did catch a glimpse of the 800m race where Stephanie Goplin won (but I have no idea of her time) while we were in the middle of our shot put competition. The Marquette throwers swept all of the 'chucking' events. I had a good weekend, placing first in hammer and discus, and setting a new facilities record in the hammer. I also placed second in the shot put while my teammate Julie Sorrentino won. Freshman Amy Merrill won the Javelin.
Everyone should be getting geared up for Conference. We have only two more meets before we head south to Tulane. We have strength in all events from the jumps to hurdles, sprints, distance and throws. There are more events in the outdoor championships than in indoor and we have strong performers in all of those events. I think the majority of the team is focused, but can't wait (or is dreading) to get their finals out of the way before we go. The weather conditions should be somewhat similar to those we experienced in California and we definitely proved ourselves out there against some pretty tough competition.
Up next for the team is the Drake Relays in Iowa and the Loras Invite. I have not been informed of which individuals are competing where yet. I think the Drake Relays will be a great meet. With it being an Olympic Year, I think all of the "big dogs" will be out and wanting to show their stuff. I am definitely looking forward to it!