Jan. 20, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Freshmen Kristabel Doebel-Hickok and Adrienne Diraddo finished in the top 10 of the 3000 meters to lead the Commodore track and field team at the Big Ten/SEC Challenge held this past weekend at the Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse.
Doebel-Hickok was one of the top performers for the Commodores for the second-straight week. Running against the toughest competition of the young season, she finished fifth in the 3000-meter run, finishing the distance in 10:03.66, improving her time from last week’s performance at the Kentucky Invitational by five seconds.
Fellow freshman Adrienne Diraddo finished just behind in seventh place, giving the Commodores two finishers in the top-10. Diraddo finished in 10:04.70, improving her season-best time by nearly 10 seconds.
“They both responded well by dropping their times,” distance coach Steve Keith said. “They ran nice races. Neither of them had a track season last spring so they hadn’t been on a track in a while. They’re learning quickly. They had nice performances for freshmen.”
Other notable performances included senior Lauren Fortson, who finished sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.83. Freshman Christina Mullin won her heat in the 200-meter dash, finishing with a time of 25.99. In the long jump, sophomore Lauryn Smith finished in fifth place, with a jump of 18’7.
The Commodores return to action next weekend when they travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn., for the Middle Tennessee Classic.
