 |  Senior Gloria Asumnu leads the track and field team to the C-USA Indoor Championships this weekend in Houston. |
Women's Track and Field Competes at Conference USA Championships
Feb. 28, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University women's indoor track and field team travels to Houston this weekend for the Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championship meet held at the Bill Yeoman Field house on the University of Houston campus.
The C-USA Championship represents the culmination of the team's hard work from fall workouts throughout the indoor season, Tulane head coach Heather Van Norman said. The Green Wave features four student-athletes who will be running in their hometown this weekend. Senior Gloria Asumnu, junior Vanessa Kienast, sophomore Olivia Kizzee and redshirt-sophomore Jasmine Momoh all hail from Houston. Kienast and Momoh both attended Westside High School and cam to Tulane together in the same year.
Asumnu, who holds the conference record of 7.22 seconds for the 60-meter dash set at the 2007 C-USA meet, leads the conference in both the 60m and 200m sprints. Click here for live results of the Conference USA Championships. The C-USA Championship Central page can be found here.
Sprinters participating for Wave include Asumnu, junior Shaina Pelham and sophomore Jasmine Momoh in the 60m, and Asumnu, Pelham, Momoh, junior Kyra Lobbins and sophomore Olivia Kizzee in the 200m. Senior Shanon Beelendorf, sophomore Valencia Wilson, junior Vanessa Kienast, and freshmen Aieshia Brooks and Zandria Debowles will run the 400m. Asumnu, Pelham, Kienast and Wilson are scheduled to run the 4x400 relay, along with Beelendorf, Brooks, Momoh and Lobbins.
Seniors Aubrey Phillips and Keriann Langley, junior Rachel Bryan and freshman Laurie Dalrymple will compete in the 3,000-meter run, and Phillips and Dalrymple will run the 5,000m. Brooks, Langley, Lobbins and freshman Rebecca Coady will compete in the distance medley relay, with Beelendorf, Kienast and Kizzee serving as alternates.
In the field portion of the meet, sophomore Arielle Minor will compete in the pentathlon. Minor completed the pentathlon earlier this season, setting personal records in four of the five events and a PR in total points. Minor and Debowles will test their mettle in the high jump, while sophomore Nicolette Taku will compete in the triple jump. Taku and freshman Brree Carter will tackle the long jump. Junior thrower Katarina Busljeta will launch the shot put and the 20 lb. weight, and freshman Peggy Keplinger will compete in the pole vault.