Holloway Finishes 10th in NCAA Heptathlon

6/10/2006

Sacramento, Calif. — Vanderbilt Garnetta Holloway established a heptathlon personal record Saturday in the NCAA Track and Field Championships, yet it wasn’t enough to garner All-America recognition for the Commodore junior.

Holloway accumulated 5,417 points — second highest total ever by a Vanderbilt athlete — to earn a respectable 10th place overall finish in the NCAA heptathlon. Holloway entered the competition 20th of 28 participants.

During the two-day competition, Holloway broke four outdoor personal bests, matched a fifth, turned her ankle just before the next-to-last event, then closed with the fastest 800-meter run of her life.

“I still really excited,” Holloway said 30 minutes after the competition. “Even though I really wanted to be an All-American, I tried hard and I thought I competed pretty well. The competition was pretty good, just a little bit better.”

Vanderbilt Head Coach Lori Shepard said the positive experience should benefit Holloway next year in her final Commodore season.

“This was a wakeup call for Garnetta. I’m so proud of the way she competed,” Shepard said. “She got a little taste of the big time and I think it tasted pretty good to her. Garnetta discovered she can compete on that level.”

From the first event Friday to the seventh and final competition Saturday, Holloway battled her way up the rankings, going from 24th overall after the 100-meter hurdles to eighth prior to the 800-meter run. In the 800, Holloway broke her previous mark by three seconds, but could hold off the challenges of Nebraska’s Sara Jane Baker and Montana State’s Erin Jones-Graf, who jumped from ninth and 10th prior to the 800 to sixth and ninth, respectively. Holloway missed eight place by only 50 points.

Holloway also contended with plenty of adversity. After matching a career best of 19’0″ on her last of three long jump attempts to start the competition Saturday, Holloway turned her ankle warming up for the javelin, one of her top events.

“I just couldn’t believe I’d twisted my ankle,” Holloway said. “But, by the time I taped it up, it was time to compete. I didn’t have much time to think about anything, much less the pain.”

The pressure mounted when Holloway’s first two javelin attempts landed flat, resulting in fouls.
“I was really nervous on that final throw. I needed to get a mark,” Holloway said. On the third attempt, Holloway sailed the javelin 127’5″, just two feet off her all-time best, and enough to vault her into eighth place and serious All-America contention.

“Going into the race, I knew the two girls closest to me (Nebraska’s Sara Jane Baker and Montana State’s Erin Jones-Graf) were really good 800-meter runners, so I just did the best I could to stay with the girl from Montana State,” Holloway said. Running on the sore ankle, Holloway lost just enough points to finish 17 points behind Jones-Graf. Baker moved from ninth to sixth with a winning effort of 2:13.28.

Holloway edged Megan Akre of LSU as the top Southeastern Conference finisher. Jacqueline Johnson of Arizona State won the heptathlon for the second time in three years, easily outdistancing Tracy Partain of Missouri State.