Jan. 21, 2012
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - With five top-ten finishes on day two of the Cherry and Silver Invitational, the Tulane track and field program had a "good day" according to head coach Eric Peterson. Estefany Cruz posted the team's highest finish of the weekend with a third place showing in the triple jump, Candice St. Etienne placed fourth in the 800 meter, Jamie Riles and Kasey Rodgers each posted fifth place showings in their respective events.
"I'm happy with the progress that our team is making," said Tulane head coach Eric Peterson, "we saw some really good progress in the triple jump and our sprinting events this weekend. I think we come away from this meet with a sense that we are moving in the right direction and we getting excited for the big invitational meets we on the horizon. The Cherry and Silver Invitational has been a good meet for us."
The triple jumpers stole the show for the Olive and Blue for the second straight meet, with Cruz finishing as the top collegiate performer and Briana Santiago setting a personal best mark for the second time in two weeks. Cruz finished third overall, behind a pair of non-college participants, with a jump of 12.32-meters in her fourth attempt. She posted a pair of jumps that landed better than 12.00-meters away from the board on the afternoon. Santiago one-upped her own performance from last weekend with a leap of 11.85-meters to win the opening flight of the competition and finish seventh overall. In her six attempts, Santiago fouled once and posted four jumps of better than 11.70-meters.
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Rodgers opened the meet with a solid performance in the 60 meter dash. The senior won the fifth heat of the preliminary round with a converted time of 7.62-seconds to advance to the championship final. In the finals, Rodgers covered the 60-meter straightaway in a converted time of 7.60, marking her fastest time of the 2012 campaign, to grab a fifth place showing.
After competing in the fastest heat of the 200 meter on Friday evening, Riles again faced the toughest competition in the 400 meter timed final. The junior ran the opening 200-meters of the race in 25.61 and broke the tape with a season-best time of 55.88. Her time was second in the opening heat, helping her finish fourth overall, and is the fourth fastest time of her career in the event. A state champion in the 800 meter during her prep career, Candice St. Etiennehad never run the event on the indoor oval and only twice on the outdoor circuit. Well, the distance never left her skill set, which she showed with time of 2:16.95 and a fourth place showing in the event on Saturday. St. Etienne sat in fourth place in her heat for most of the race, but a quick final lap allowed her to grab a third place showing in her heat, which stood up as the fourth fastest time in the 25-person field. Tiffany Kenny didn't post any top-ten finishes, but did compete in more events than any other Green Wave participant. The rookie set personal-bests in all three events, which she was entered into in order to prepare her for the pentathlon. Kenney ran 9.43 in the 60-meter hurdles, cleared the high jump bar at 1.53-meters and threw the shot put 10.05-meters. "It was good to see consistency from a lot of our student-athletes," said Peterson. "Raquelle Collins and Jamie Riles really showed that on Friday evening and our high jump group did as well. Estefany Cruz is developing some consistency in the triple jump, which is really important for our team and Briana had the best meet of her career. (Briana) not only set another (personal record), but to showed consistency with five jumps over 11.70-meters. That is just phenomenal and significant for our team. It was great to see Kasey run well and make the final at another invitational meet. That is good for our team and for her confidence moving forward. Candice ran on open 800-meters for the first time in her indoor career and came away with a good time. These are all good things for our program as we move forward." Please note that times are converted when competitions are hosted at venues with an altitude of over 3,000 feet above sea level. The Cherry and Silver Invitational was hosted at the Albuquerque Convention Center which is 4,958 feet above sea level. The Green Wave will head to Lincoln, Neb. in two weeks to compete in the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. The two-day event will begin on Friday, February 3 and conclude on Saturday, February 4 at the Devaney Center on the University of Nebraska campus.
Entries for 2012 Cherry and Silver Invitational |