Men Place 10th, Women 11th at the BIG EAST Championships

May 7, 2006

Click here for full men's results
Click here for full women's results
Click here for MU's Day One Recap

STORRS, Conn. -- Marquette's men's team finished in 10th place (32 points), while the women were 11th (31 points) at the 2006 BIG EAST Outdoor Track and Field Championships, held at the George Sherman Family Sports Complex on the campus of the University of Connecticut. Notre Dame (132 points) and Pittsburgh (117 points) captured the men's and women's titles, respectively.

"Overall, we felt pretty good about today's performances." said head coach Dave Uhrich. "We were pleased with some of our results and know now what it is going to take to be competitive in this conference."

"From indoors to outdoors, we moved up a spot in the team standings." Uhrich added. "That coupled with the return of the majority of our scorers - and those who finished just out of the points - we're excited for next year."

The competition wrapped up this afternoon with several outstanding performances from MU athletes.

For the men, Jed Burey finished fifth overall in the 800m final, clocking 1:51.84. He entered the final seeded sixth, after clocking a personal-best 1:51.58 during Saturday's trials.

"Jed had a good weekend, setting a new PR in the trials and then coming back the following day with another solid run in the finals." Uhrich added.

Damian Anisko was sixth in the hammer throw, with a heave of 175'8" (53.55m). Keith Jamerson was 16th (144'1"/43.93m) and Eric Matuszewski was 17th (139'5"/42.49m). Zach Pawlowski was 10th in the pole vault, clearing a height of 15'3" (4.65m). Matt Piekarski was 11th in the javelin, with a throw of 170'4" (51.91m).

Marquette's 4x400m relay squad finished seventh overall (3:13.79), while its 4x100m (42.16) and 4x800m (7:37.84) relay teams were eighth (42.16).

On the women's side this afternoon, Michaela Courtney blazed to a new school record of 4:21.40 in the 1,500m run en route to a second-place finish. She eclipsed the old mark of 4:23.93, set by Brianna Dahm in 2003. Cassie Peller finished seventh in the 1,500m, clocking 4:28.99.

"Michaela added another second-place finish to her resume, beating some All-Americans and setting a Marquette record in the process." said Uhrich.

Heidi Lindeman was ninth in the 5,000m, crossing the finish line in 17:29.45, while teammates Terri Emond finished 12th (17:42.77) and Jodi Jakubek was 17th (18:43.99).

The Golden Eagles' 4x800m relay team finished third overall in a time of 8:55.67, besting their school record - set last weekend at the Drake Relay - by .02 seconds.

Jessica Ehlen was fifth in the hammer throw, with a heave of 175'9" (53.58m), while teammates Jenna Mahaffey were 10th (162'4"/49.48m). Lana Rabas was 12th in the high jump, clearing a height of 5'3" (1.60m).

CSTV will televised a one-hour package of the BIG EAST Championship on May 15 at 7:00 p.m. CT. Former USA Olympian and two-time bronze medalist high jumper Dwight Stones will provide play-by-play commentary, while Lewis Johnson will provide the analysis.