Feb. 17, 2012
BATON ROUGE, La. - It was one last chance to fine tune their skills on the track before the championship portion of the schedule and the Tulane track and field program took full advantage of their opportunity by setting nine personal records at the LSU Twilight meet hosted at the Maddox Field House.
"The athletes that competed in the LSU Twilight were athletes that are finishing up their indoor season or getting a final tune-up in before the Conference USA championships," said head coach Eric Peterson. "Johanna (Gretschel) ran a near lifetime best - the best individual race she has indoors in her career - and Emmi (Aguillard) posted a personal best in the mile. For those two athletes to place in the top four is a really good confidence boost as they prepare for the conference meet."
Johanna Gretschel and Emmi Aguillard both had solid races in the mile run on Friday evening and both runners finished among the top-four in the field. Gretschel was just three second away from setting a lifetime best, finishing second overall and grabbing the top spot by a collegian. Aguillard topper her previous career best time by over 13-seconds at the distance and finished fourth overall in the competition.
Katherine Crabtree led a trio of Green Wave participants in the 3,000 meter with a new personal record time of 10:49.06, dropping nearly 30 seconds off of her previous record at the distance, to finish second overall in the event. Paige Callahan finished third in a time of 11:02.40 and Aimee Arceneaux competed in her first career indoor meet and finished the race in seventh place, clocking a time of 11:35.45.
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The pole vault also saw a career record fall when Jessica Knierim cleared the 3.54-meter bar on her second attempt at the height. The freshman passed the opening height and cleared each of her next two bars on the second attempt - including 3.54-meters - and now sits in second on the Tulane career indoor charts in the event.
"The continued improvement of Jessica Knierim is great for our program," Peterson said. "Even though the improvement was slight, we know that she is ready to clear the 12-foot mark. She has done it in practice and we are hopeful that she can take that into next week. We are excited to see her move into the conference championships next weekend."
Adiyah Crute qualified for the 60-meter hurdle finals when she blazed a team-best time of 9.20 in the prelims to take the third seed into the finals. The junior ran 9.34 in the finals - which is the second fastest time of the season for TU - and placed eighth overall in the competition. She also ran 8.21 in the prelims of the 60 meter event.
"We had several very good performances from other student-athletes, as well, and we are heading into the conference meet on a high note," Peterson added. "I was happy to see the effort that everyone put into the meet. Katelyn Price had a good afternoon, Jerica (Banks) dropped down to the 60 and ran the lifetime bests and Adiyah (Crute) made the finals in the 60-meter hurdles and posted a lifetime best in the event."
Katelyn Price cleared 1.61-meters in the high jump to set a new career record. The sophomore cleared the 1.60-meter mark for the first time in her career by clearing the opening height of 1.51-meters on her first attempt, taking the 1.56-meter height on her second jump and clearing the 1.59-meter bar on her only attempt at the height.
In the 60-meter dash, Hilary Woods led the way with a time of 7.86 to finish 13th in the prelims and miss the finals by just two, one-hundredths of the second. Jerica Banks finished 16th in the opening round with a time of 7.95, a time that bested her previous career mark of 8.08 set during her rookie campaign.
Next weekend, Tulane will head to Birmingham, Ala. to compete in the 2012 Conference USA Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex. The event begins on Saturday, Feb. 25 and concludes on Sunday, Feb. 26.
You can follow the Tulane track and field programs on Twitter (@GreenWaveTkFld) or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TulaneXCTF.
Results From 2012 LSU Twilight
60 Meter Prelims
13. Hilary Woods, 7.86
16. Jerica Banks, 7.95 *
33. Adiyah Crute, 8.21
43. Brenna Mossman, 9.00 *
Mile Run
2. Johanna Gretschel, 5:11.28
4. Emmi Aguillard, 5:13.51 *
3,000 Meter
2. Katherine Crabtree, 10:49.06 *
3. Paige Callahan, 11:02.40 *
7. Aimee Arceneaux, 11:35.45 *
60m Hurdles Finals
8. Adiyah Crute, 9.34
60m Hurdles Prelims
3. Adiyah Crute, 9.20 *
11. Tiffany Kenney, 9.46
4 x 400m Relay
9. Tulane, 4:18.18
High Jump
4. Katelyn Price, 1.61m *
Pole Vault
4. Jessica Knierim, 3.54m *
8. Joanna Lapucha, 3.34m
Long Jump
13. Tiffany Kenney, 4.99m