April 21, 2012
BATON ROUGE, La. - With the pre-championship portion of their schedule winding down, the Tulane track and field program posted another solid showing at the LSU Alumni Gold on Saturday (April 21) at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
"We wanted to use this weekend as a way to simulate the Conference USA competition schedule," said Tulane head coach Eric Peterson. "Competing on Friday at Southeastern Louisiana and coming back on Saturday at LSU gave us an opportunity to have our student-athletes compete in a simulated format as to what they are going to see at the championships.
We feel that this was really valuable for our student-athletes. We would have preferred to have better (weather) conditions today, but we don't have any control over that. Overall, it was great to see our team compete well, with some of them making pretty significant improvements."
The biggest PR of the meet came in the longest event. In the 5000 meter race, senior Max Miller covered the twelve and one-half laps in 15:35.47 to claim a runner-up finish in the event. Miller set a new personal record by nearly 14 seconds, besting his previous best time that was set in the season opening meet. The senior was just five seconds behind Kipchirchir Kiptoo of Ole Miss.
"Max executed another great race plan today," said Peterson. "He has really come on strong for our program over the last few weeks and is really developing nicely. It is great to see him running well and making good in-race decisions."
The women's triple jump was another solid area for the Green Wave program with Estefany Cruz and Briana Santiago each posting season-best jumps on the runway. Cruz placed third overall in the invitational portion of the competition with a jump of 12.81-meters. That mark was aided by four-miles per hour of win or more, which makes it a non-wind legal jump for the NCAA Championships qualifying, but her leap of 12.65-meters was a wind legal mark and sets a new personal best in the event for the freshman. Santiago was also victim of a wind aided mark, but finished in third among the open triple jump group with a leap of 11.96-meters.
"I think that both of our triple jumpers are progressing nicely this season," said Peterson. "Our coaching staff feels that both Estefany and Briana are really close to hitting that big jump and taking the next step forward. Today was a good step forward for both jumpers and we look forward to their continued improvement as we move forward."
Justyn Shackleford continues to make a solid transition from the gridiron to the oval, claiming a sixth place showing in the 400-meter hurdles on Saturday. The freshman set a new personal-best time of 55.56 in the event to lower his personal record time by nearly one full second. His mark at LSU would currently rank fourth among football players who also compete in the event on the track and would be the top 400-meter hurdle time for a Division I football player in the nation.
After watching as a handful of her marks were tainted by windy conditions, senior Kasey Rodgers put together a great race in the 100 meter on the straightaway at the Bernie Moore Stadium on Saturday. Rodgers broke the tape in 11.64 to place 11th overall in the event and mark her top time of the season, tying her mark from the South Alabama Invitational from earlier this month.
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