NEW ORLEANS - Tiffany George enjoyed one of the finest days of her young career on Saturday inside the Devaney Fieldhouse on the University of Nebraska campus. The rookie won the 200-meter dash consolation final and then finished second to teammate Kasey Rodgers in the 60-meter finals, while setting personal-bests in both events.
"I am really proud of our kids, even above and beyond what it means for our program right now," said head coach Eric Peterson. "Our sprinters were great this weekend. It is one of the best meets that we have had out of that group in a long time. For Kasey to grab an individual title and Tiffany to finish second was awesome. Then, for Kasey to come back and win her heat in the 200 with another great run was really nice to see. Tiffany's 200 meter time in the consolation would have placed her third overall." George topped the field in the consolation final of the 200-meter dash, opening the running portion of the meet for the Green Wave on a high note. The freshman from Zachary, La. bested her time from yesterday by seven-tenths of a second and won the event with a 24.74 showing. Later in the meet George and senior Kasey Rodgers swept the top two spots in the 60-meter dash final, with Rodgers claiming her first individual crown of the season. The senior posted a time of 7.56, just ahead of George's personal-record time of 7.63. Rodgers now owns the top four times in the 60-meter dash this season for the Green Wave, while George was one of just two runners to better their time from the prelims to the finals.\ Rodgers followed up her winning sprint in the 60-meter dash with a runner-up finish in the 200-meter event, while teammateTiffanie Smith placed fifth in the finals of the 200. Rodgers again nabbed a PR time in the event, breaking the tape in 24.48 to earn the second place showing. Smith also collected a career-best time for the second straight day, finishing in 25.08.
Jamie Riles posted a solid showing in the finals of the 400-meter dash, placing fourth overall with a time of 55.79. Riles, who won her heat in the finals, set a new career-best in the process. The sophomore outdid her previous PR by 0.41-seconds, which she established last season at the Conference USA Indoor Championships. The 4x400-meter Relay team closed out the meet with Tulane's third victory of the day, claiming the top spot in the event with season-best outing of 3:47.91. The squad of Jerica Banks, Candice St. Etienne, Smith and Riles topped the field in the event by nearly five seconds to close out a successful weekend in Lincoln. "I can see across the board that they are proud of themselves and I am really proud of them," Peterson said. "Our kids really represented themselves well and represented the university well this weekend. Our kids are working really hard day-in and day-out to get better and you can see that in our results to this point." Overall, the Olive and Blue watched as team members posted ten different personal best performances on the weekend and Tulane took home the top spot in three events. Next up on the schedule for the Green Wave track and field program will be a trip to Fayetteville, Ark. Tulane will descend on the Randall Tyson Track Center on Friday, Feb. 11 and Saturday, Feb. 12 for the Tyson Invitational.