March 2, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Freshman distance runner Rita Jorgensen finished sixth in the one-mile run and just missed recording an NCAA provisional qualifying mark to lead the Commodores on the final day of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the Randal Tyson Track Complex in Fayetteville.
“She followed the plan we set for her really well,” Vanderbilt distance coach Steven Keith said. “She was racing the two girls just ahead of her the whole way. They had a little bit more than her in the final two laps. The goal was to make the final and score some points and that’s what she did.”
After recording a time of 4:50.25 in the preliminaries, Jorgensen improved her time by nearly two seconds in the finals, finishing with a mark of 4:48.41 and just missing the NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:48.00. Jorgensen finished sixth in the finals to register three points for the Commodores in the team competition. Tennessee’s Sarah Bowman won the race with a time of 4:37.16.
“It’s really nice for her to get to this level off of so few competitions,” Keith added. “We’ll have a pretty easy week this week for spring break. Rita’s not over raced and we’ll look to hit our NCAA regional mark at the end of March and early April. We know we can improve a lot.
Vanderbilt’s distance medley relay team finished in fourth place with a time of 11:51.61. The fourth-place finish gave the Commodores an additional five points in the team standings.
Overall, Vanderbilt finished the SEC Indoor Championships in 12th place with eight points. Top-ranked LSU captured the women’s title with 133 points, followed by Tennessee with 116 points.
