NCAA WOMEN'S RECAP

Oregon runs away with team title behind strength of Hasay

by Paul Michel 
 

Hasay leads Oregon to team title

Jordan Hasay travelled to College Station having never won a National Championship.  In two short days, the Oregon sophomore gathered two individual titles and narrowly missed a third, propelling the Oregon Ducks to a dominating 29 point win at this weekend's NCAA DI Indoor Nationals.

Hasay's incredible individual display started with Friday night's distance medley relay.  Anchoring their respective teams, Hasay and Villanova rival Sheila Reid pulled away from the field, setting up an epic battle in the last several laps.  Reid, having received the baton slightly behind Hasay, smartly sat on her through the majority of the race, content to let her Oregon counterpart do the pace-work.  Her plan paid off, as Reid was able to out-kick Hasay in a thrilling race, giving Villanova the win by the slightest of margins (10:52.52 to 10:52.90).

Hasay clearly used the outcome of the race to fuel her busy second day of competition.  

Day two started with Hasay taking home her first individual title in the women's mile, narrowly edging Kate Van Buskirk of Duke 4:33.01 to 4:33.71.  More importantly, Oregon used the event to help start pulling away to a team title.  The Ducks came away with 21 team points, as Hasay's fellow teammates Zoe Buckman (4:33.76) and Anne Keeselring (4:34.96) finished third and fourth, respectively.  Entering the event essentially tied with Texas, Oregon left the mile 24 points ahead of the Longhorns, commencing a stronghold on the team title that would only increase the rest of the day.

Hasay redeemed her DMR defeat to Reid by out-kicking the Villanova senior later in the day in the 3k.  Entering the event as a clear underdog (she was only the 4th seed coming in and she had already run three races), Hasay surprised many with the win.  Her 9:13.71 to 9:13.86 victory gave Jordan her second individual title in two hours and further accentuated Oregon's commanding team lead.

Brookins ties Collegiate Record

South Carolina senior Lakya Brookins dominated the women's 60 meter dash, en route to tying the all-time Collegiate record and setting a new NCAA Meet record in 7.09.  In becoming the second collegian ever to break the 7.10 barrier, Brookins ran the fastest time in the world this year.  Entering the meet with a 7.14 PR, the South Carolina native also set a personal record in the prelims, running a 7.13 mark.

Beard dominates long sprints for hometown Aggies

Texas A&M senior Jessica Beard wowed the home crowd with an impressive display of 400 dominance.  Beard entered the meet with a season-best time of 51.68 seconds, but stated that her best mark was after a 200 at the conference meet.  With the knowledge that she would be more fresh for the National meet, she had sub-51 on her mind going into Saturday's final.  

She delivered in definitive fashion, nearly breaking the American indoor record (50.54) but setting a Texas A&M school record with a time of 50.79.  Her first sub-51 beat the rest of a stacked field by over 1.5 seconds!

But she was not done.

Beard and her fellow 4x400 teammates entered the final event of the meet looking for a victory and school record, and Beard delivered them home.  Anchoring the Aggies, she received the baton in fourth, but used a blazing 51.09 split (fastest of the meet) to pass Arkansas, LSU and Texas for the team win.  The Aggies' time of 3:29.72 was good enough for the narrow win and a new school-record.

New record in the Pentathlon

Brianne Theisen, a junior from Oregon, set a new Collegiate, NCAA Meet and Facility record with a 4540 score in the pentathlon.  She used a victory in the high jump (6'0") and 2nd-place marks in the 60m hurdles (8.35) and 800m (2:11.82) to bring home the win and ten team points for the Ducks.

Other notables

Lacey Bleazard pulled off an upset in the 800, as the BYU junior (9th seed coming in) beat Michigan's Jillian Smith for the win in 2:04.09.  The time was Bleazard's indoor personal best.  In winning the 800, Bleazard joined fellow Cougar Miles Batty (mile) and the BYU men's DMR as NCAA Champions.

Kimberlyn Duncan, a sophomore from LSU, won the 200 by the slightest of margins.  Her 22.85 was just good enough for the win over Texas A&M's Jeneba Tarmoh, who clocked a 22.88.  Tiffany Townsend from Baylor was third, as all three women broke 23.0.

The women's 5k was true to plan, as favorite Jackie Areson of Tennessee entered the meet 5 seconds better than any other runner in the field, and won by just over 4 seconds.  The senior Volunteer beat Mia Behm (Texas) 16:04.16 to 16:08.56, in what ended up being a tactical affair.  Areson wrapped up a terrific meet later in the 3k, placing fourth in 9:17.88.

Kimberly Williams of Florida State won the triple jump and placed second in the long jump.  Her 13.96 in the triple (just under 45'10") tied her season's best.  Tori Bowie of Southern Miss upset the field by winning the long jump, as she entered the meet with the sixth best mark.  Her 6.52 winning jump (21'4") represented a huge season's best for the junior.

Brigetta Barrett continued her dominance in the high jump, as the Arizona sophomore jumped just under 6'3" for the decisive win.  In the women's pole vault, Arkansas junior Tina Sutej did the same, winning in 14'7".

Julie Labonte of Arizona (SO) won the women's shot put with a mark of 17.53 meters (57'6") and Felisha Johnson of Indiana State took home the weight throw title with a 22.69m (74'5") season's best.