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Vanderbilt’s Schneble Named SEC Track Athlete of the Week 5/5/2004 Sophomore To Enter SEC Championships with Top 5,000-Meter Time BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A school-record performance in the 5,000-meter run last Friday in Northern California enabled sophomore Erika Schneble to become the first Vanderbilt track and field runner in two years to garner Southeastern Conference Women’s Track Athlete of the Week. Schneble, a native of Hendersonville, N.C., was honored Wednesday afternoon by the SEC office. She becomes the first Vanderbilt recipient since former distance runner Kylene Kownurko was honored Feb. 20, 2002. Ryan Tolbert, the Commodores’ only NCAA individual champion, was named SEC Track Athlete of the Year in 1997. “I’m delighted for Erika and proud of what she is accomplishing on the track. She has compiled a very successful season, both outdoors and indoors. The SEC could not have picked a more deserving recipient,” Vanderbilt distance coach Jim Spivey said. Schneble stamped herself as a 5,000-meter contender in the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships with an impressive performance last week in the prestigious Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University. Competing in the top field assembled in the U.S. this year, Schneble topped all collegiate runners with a 16:08.18 effort. The performance, which smashed Schneble’s former team record by 17 seconds, is the fastest time this year by an SEC athlete. Schneble ranks 11th nationally at the distance. The Cardinal Invitational effort continues a sizzling season for the neuroscience major. She has lowered the team’s outdoor 5,000-meter best on three occasions after twice breaking the team’s indoor mark. Schneble also posted an NCAA regional qualifying mark of 4:25.82 in the 1,500-meter run while winning the Vanderbilt Invitational last month. Including an NCAA all-regional cross country effort last November, Schneble has remarkably set personal bests in 12 consecutive finals, ranging from 800 meters to 6-kilometers. Schneble, who finished second in the 5,000-meter run at the SEC Indoor Championships in March, will attempt to join Kownurko and Tolbert as the only Commodores to capture individual events at the SEC Outdoor Championships. The meet is scheduled May 13-16 at the University of Mississippi. |
