TCU Survives First Day of WAC Track Championships
5/18/2001 12:00:00 AM
May 18, 2001
Fresno, California - The TCU Flyin' Frogs survived a shaky first day of the WAC track and field championships, held at Warmerdam Field on the campus of Fresno State University.
In a day primarily reserved for preliminary events, the Frogs captured a pair of first place medals. Darvis Patton brought home TCU's first gold medal with a first place finish in the long jump. The senior from Dallas had a best mark of 7.92 meters or 26 feet even. Teammates Jason Howard (7.75m/25-05.25) and Abdul Rasheed (7.30/23-11.50) picked up team points by placing third and sixth respectively. In the final event of the day, Herbert Mwangi recorded his first WAC title and the Frogs' second gold medal with a winning effort of 30:38.12 in the 10,000 meter run. Jason Howard struggled to a disappointing sixth place finish in the high jump with a mark of 1.96 meters of 6 feet, five inches.
UTEP leads the team scoring with 60 points. Rice is second with 50, followed by Fresno State with 43. TCU is in fourth place after Friday's events with 28 points. SMU has talled 20, while Tulsa rounds out the field with 15 points.
The Frogs showed their speed and depth in the prelims of the sprint events. TCU will send five runners to the finals in the 100 meter dash, led by Kim Collins, who turned in the fastest prelim time of 10.19. TCU will be represented by six runners in the finals of the 200 meter dash, again led by Collins, who posted the fastest prelim time of 20.43. Unfortunately, speedsters Lindel Frater and Steve Slowly are not among the Flyin' Frogs advancing to the 200 finals. Frater false started out of the competition, while Slowly pulled a hamstring muscle and was unable to finish the race. Slowly, who also runs on the nation's fastest 4x100 meter relay team as well as TCU's 4x400 meter relay team, is doubtful for the remainder of the meet. Eliud Njubi will take the best time in the 800 into the finals, as he cruised in with a clocking of 1:51.47.
On the women's side, Monica Twum and Sonia Williams were impressive in the short sprints. The tandem finished 2-3 in the 100 and placed 1-2 in the 200, with Twum setting a stadium record of 23.45. Glady's Keitany turned in the fastest time in the 1,500 at 4:33.91.
Nevada leads the women's side of the meet with 71 points after Friday's events. Rice is second with 56.5, just ahead of host Fresno State (51). SMU sits in fourth place with 30 points, while Tulsa (19), Hawaii (16) and TCU (15) hold down the five, six and seven slots. UTEP trails the field with 13.5 points.
"We had a mixed bag today," said TCU head track coach Monte Stratton. "We were not real sharp and need to bounce back tomorrow. We hurt ourselves in the 200 with Lindel's false start and with the injury to Slowly. We had some good things happen too, with Patton winning the long jump and Mwangi taking the 10K. On the women's side, Monica Twum and Sonia Williams ran very well."
The final day of the WAC Championships is set for Saturday with events getting underway at 3:30 p.m. local time. For a complete list of all marks, go to www.gobulldogs.fansonly.com.
