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Wetzel Second in Iowa State Mile, Hahn Third in High Jump 2/1/2004 Campbell, Roberts Post Event Wins at MTSU Meet Vanderbilt freshman middle distance runner Ashleigh Wetzel continued her impressive indoor showing Saturday, posting the fifth fastest indoor mile by a Commodore in a second place finish at the Iowa State Indoor Open. Another Vanderbilt standout, versatile junior Josie Hahn, provided another Commodore highlight at the Iowa meet by clearing 5’9.25″ to finish third in the high jump. Two Commodores, junior Paige Roberts and senior Vensherrie Campbell, claimed event victories competing at the Blue Raider Classic in Murfreesboro Saturday. Roberts won the pole vault and Campbell captured the indoor weight throw. Wetzel became the second Commodore distance runner to impress at the Iowa indoor meet. On Friday, sophomore Erika Schneble ran the second fastest indoor 5,000 meters ever by a Vanderbilt athlete to win the event Friday at the Iowa State Indoor Open in Ames. Wetzel, coming off a solid fourth place showing at the Kentucky Invitational two weeks ago, lowered her personal best in the mile by six seconds in the runnerup finish. She was clocked in 4:57.33. Only four former Commodores, led by Beth Tallent’s 4:47.29 effort in 1991, have run the distance faster than Wetzel. Besides Wetzel and Hahn, who also posted a personal best of 25.97 in the 200 meters, sophomores Amanda Mullins-Hall and Latisha Bryant also earned third place finishes in Iowa. Mullins-Hall finished third in the 60-meter hurdles with an 8:51 effort and Bryant finished third in the 800 meters with a personal best of 2:15.2. Senior Vanessa Lagios also posted a personal best of 58.14 in the 400 meters to finish sixth. The 1,600-meter relay foursome of Lagios, Mullins-Hall, Hahn, Bryant also finished third with a time of 3:49.96. Commodores at the Blue Raider Classic Roberts and Campbell led the Commodore team performance at the MTSU Blue Raider Classic. Roberts, who set the Vanderbilt indoor pole vault record of 11’9.75″ in 2002, captured the event with a 11’0″ clearance. Campbell, who set the Commodore weight throw of 54’7.5″ last year at MTSU, won the event Saturday with a toss of 48’2.5″ In other competition involving Commodore athletes at the Blue Raider Classic, sophomore Alisa Cotter finished fourth in the 800 meters with a 2:22.61 performance. Sophomore Whitney Thurman added a fourth in the 3,000 meters with a 11:22.74 effort. Freshman Lauren Pence contributed a sixth place finish in the mile (5:13.56), just ahead of Cotter in eighth, freshman Amy Huss in ninth and sohomore Brittany Sizer in 10th. Schneble Takes 5,000-Meter Win at Iowa State Open Ames, Iowa – Vanderbilt sophomore Erika Schneble ran the second fastest indoor 5,000 meters ever by a Commodore to win the event Friday at the Iowa State Indoor Open in Ames. Schneble, who won the 3,000 meters in a personal best effort two weeks ago at the Kentucky Invitational, scored a victory over freshman teammate Debbie Huss, running the 5,000 in 17:00.26. Huss became the fourth fastest Commodore ever at the distance with a 17:28.72 effort. The third place finisher, Amber Friedrich of the University of South Dakota, ran 17:45.36. The only Commodore to run 5,000 meters faster than Schneble is former All-American Beth Tallent, who ran 16:57.82 in 1991. Schneble set her former best at the distance, 17:05.66, during the 2003 indoor season. Five other Commodores, including 2003 All-American Josie Hahn, hurdler Amanda Mullins-Hall and freshman miler Ashleigh Wetzel, are scheduled to compete at the Iowa State Open, who has attracted more than 20 teams. The rest of the Vanderbilt squad will participate Saturday in the Blue Raider Classic hosted by Middle Tennessee State University. |
