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The Rice Thresher
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Women set three school marks, place 23rd; Owusu finishes 11th in triple jump by RYAN KEEDY THRESHER STAFF There weren't many Rice representatives at last weekend's NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, but the ones who were there made their presence felt. The Rice women, thanks to school records in the long jump, distance medley relay and 800-meter run, finished 23rd in the nation at the NCAA meet. Meanwhile, senior Drexell Owusu, Rice's only male representative, finished 11th in the triple jump at the meet, held at the University of Arkansas' Tyson Track Center on March 10-11. Freshman Alice Falaiye led the Rice women, who totaled eight team points, by placing fourth in the long jump with a leap of 6.46 meters. The jump set a new Rice record, breaking the previous mark of 6.36 meters, which Falaiye notched earlier this year. "I was happy with my performance," Falaiye said. "Going in I was hoping to jump 6.50. The experience was great. It was very exciting. I loved competing there and getting to be among the top athletes in the country." Falaiye may very well compete with the top athletes in the world at this summer's Olympic Games if she is able to make the squad representing her native Canada. "My long term goal is to break the outdoor Canadian record, which is 6.66," Falaiye said. "And since this year is an Olympic year, another one of my goals is to make the Olympic team." Adding to the five points Falaiye garnered, the distance medley squad, made up of seniors Shaquandra Roberson and Kari Vigerstol, junior Kelechi Anderson and sophomore Aimee Teteris, picked up three points with a sixth-place finish. Last year, the Owls also placed sixth in the distance medley after entering the meet seeded 12th. This time around, the Owls were ranked fourth but finished sixth, a result that left them disappointed. "I always told myself never to come in a position behind what I got the stick in," Roberson said. "Aimee handed it off to me in fourth place, and three people passed me. I passed someone at the end and eventually caught up with the pack, but it was too late. "I was really upset with myself, but everyone else was excited. They were very supportive, but I'm harder on myself than anyone else is." The team might not have done as well as expected, but it's hard to be disappointed with a school record. The time of 11 minutes, 15.70 seconds broke the old Rice record of 11:17.04, which was set at last year's national meet. "I guess maybe we were expecting a little more this year because we were ranked higher," Vigerstol said. "But we did run faster, we still got All-American, we finished in sixth place, and everyone's times were faster, which is amazing." Teteris and Roberson also competed in the 800, but both failed to qualify for the finals. In the preliminaries, however, Teteris broke yet another Rice record by running a 2:06.74 and missed out on the finals by just 0.36 seconds. "I wanted to make the finals," Teteris said. "But I couldn't really have asked for anything more, because I ran the fastest time that I've run indoors." On the men's side, Owusu represented the Owls well by coming home with an 11th-place finish in the triple jump. His leap of 15.82 meters, however, was less than his best jump of the season, a 16.17. "I was extremely disappointed with my performance," said Owusu, who sprained his ankle during warm-ups. "I came in ranked eighth, so I should have finished eighth, if not better. I knew I was capable of jumping further and just didn't. ... I just tried to come back from [the ankle injury] and try to push myself. It just didn't work out." Both the men's and women's teams now turn their attention to the start of the outdoor season, which officially kicks off with next weekend's Texas Southern University relays. - back -
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