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5/11/2006 Holloway Enters SEC Championships With Chance to Capture Heptathlon Fayetteville, Ark. – Multi-event standout Garnetta Holloway, one of Vanderbilt’s top prospects in the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, will open competition in the heptathlon Thursday at the league meet. Holloway, from Cleveland, Tenn., and distance runner Amy Huss are considered the top Commodore candidates to challenge for individual titles at the four-day meet being staged at the University of Arkansas. Huss, a junior from Wyomissing, Pa., will compete in the 5,000-meter run scheduled on Sunday. Vanderbilt Head Coach Lori Shepard is looking to Holloway and Huss to pace the Commodore effort. “We might lack the overall depth to contend for the (team) title, but we definitely have some top competitors capable of bringing an individual championship home,” Shepard said. More than a dozen Commodore women will compete in the SEC Championships. Holloway owns one of the finest heptathlon performances entering the meet. She ranks third in the SEC on the strength of a 5,239-point accumulation last month at the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville. The only participants with higher heptathlon totals this year are Megan Akre of LSU (5,352 points) and Sarah Gretzmacher of Georgia (5,244 points). Holloway defeated three top heptathletes from South Carolina at the Sea Ray Relays. A solid performance Thursday will go a long way to positioning Holloway for the individual title. Four of the seven heptathlon events — 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200-meter dash — are scheduled Thursday, followed by the long jump, javelin and 800-meter run on Friday. Holloway will need to match her performance at the Sea Ray Relays, where she established personal bests in three of the four first-day events. Holloway has a positive history at previous SEC Championships. Last year, competing on the Vanderbilt campus, Holloway set a personal best while finishing seventh in the SEC heptathlon. Huss, running healthy for the first time in two years, enters the meet with one of the fastest 5,000-meter performances. She ranks second to Angela Homan of Auburn following a 16:29.66 effort at the Penn Relays two weeks ago. Though Homan’s best at the distance is 18 seconds faster than Huss, the Auburn standout is expected to attempt a 10,000-5,000 double at the meet. With Huss entered in the 5,000 only, she is expected to be fresh for the race, while Homan will enter a day after running the grueling 10,000. Huss will attempt to join Erika Schneble as the only Commodores to win the SEC 5,000-meter title. Schneble, also expected to compete in the race, won at the 2004 Championships in Oxford, Miss. |
