Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Jesse Owens Classic
Women1s Track Leaves Jesse Owens Classic With 14 Top Tens
05/02/2004 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
May 2, 2004
By Josh Magill
www.SIUSalukis.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Senior captain Korto Dunbar got just a little closer to matching her school record in the 100-meter hurdles at the 19th annual Jesse Owens Classic on Friday and Saturday, leading her teammates to 14 top ten finishes at the two-day event.
Dunbar clocked in a season best 13.42 seconds in the hurdles, tieing former Saluki hurdler Kathleen Raske's school record. The record-time helped Dunbar finish with runner-up honors in the event.
A Greenbelt, Md. native, Dunbar would also finish in 14th place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.14, as well as 11th in the 200-meters with a mark of 24.33. She was followed by freshman Sherlenia Green (24.52) in 15th place and junior Yvonne Cohen (25.00) in 19th place.
Green returned in the 400-meters to finish 12th with a time of 55.68, but it was junior sprinting specialist that finished in the top ten with a seventh place finish, clocking in at 55.12.
In the 800-meter run, the duo of sophomore Ty-Nica Davis and senior Noa Beitler continued their friendly back-and-forth rivalry. This time Davis had the quicker feet, finishing fourth in 2:12.94, while Beitler crossed the line with a time of 2:14.10.
Freshman Sarah Rinker was also a top ten finisher in seventh place during the 1500-meter run, clocking in at 4:41.04, while fellow freshman Lindsay Wagner crossed the line in eighth place with a mark of 17:54.51.
Freshmen Marquita Vines (1:02.00) and Leslie Murillo (1:02.83) both finished near the 1:02 mark, finishing fourth and sixth, respectively, in the 400-meter hurdles.
In the throws, sophomore Megan Cenkush snagged 12th place in the discus with a toss of 139 feet, five inches, as well as seventh in the javelin with a mark of 126-07.
Junior Venisha Williams threw a distance of 161-11 in the hammer throw to finish 10th, while junior Katy Ritten and senior Danielle Lawary notched 17th and 18th. Ritten tossed a distance of 150-03 and Lawary was just behind her with a mark of 150-01.
Lawary bested her season mark by nearly four inches in the shot put, posting a mark of 47-11.75. She grabbed fifth place and was followed by Ritten in sixth place with a toss of 47-02.25, which qualified her for the NCAA regional meet.
In the high jump, junior Katie Fesler leapt into seventh place with a jump of 5-02.25 to finish out the individuals in the top ten.
The 4x100-meter relay team of Dunbar, Green, Toussaint and Cohen inched closer to the NCAA regional qualifying standard, posting a second place time of 45.94 - just .14 seconds short. It was the third time this season the squad has surpassed the old school record.
The Salukis will compete in one final meet before the Missouri Valley Conference Championship when they travel to the Billy Hayes Invite next weekend. Results can be found at www.SIUSalukis.com.
