Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championships: Day One

May 11, 2006

Both the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men and women lead after day one of the 2006 Horizon League Men's & Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Butler University at Michael A. Carroll Stadium on the campus of IUPUI. 

The action began in the early morning with the men's and women's multi-events. UIC sophomore Terell Williams leads in the men's decathlon after day one, totaling 3061 points after five events. Williams placed first in the 100m dash (11.35), long jump (6.46m) and shot put (10.34m), while Youngstown's State's Mike Perri took first in the high jump (1.89m) and 400m dash (53.38) to raise his total to a second-best 2855 points.

UIC's Alek Jackson is in third with 2649 points, followed by UW-Milwaukee's Kyle Huebner (2632), YSU's Jason Greenamyer (2518) and Loyola's Jeremy Ceja (2204).

After four events in the women's heptathlon, Youngstown State freshman Jen Grayson leads all competitors with 2741 points. Grayson took the top spot in three events, posting times of 26.57 in the 200m dash and 15.17 in the 100m hurdles, in addition to clearing a height of 1.60m in the high jump.   Loyola's Inshirah Grimes sits in second place, only 50 points behind Grayson with a total of 2691.  Grimes posted the top mark in the only other heptathlon event of the day, throwing for a distance of 11.95m in the shot put.

Korey Olson of UW-Milwaukee sits in third place with 2466 points, followed by teammate Jodi Hrdina with 2444.  UIC's Jessica Cwiak (2138), UWM's Alicia Schneider (2041) and Butler's Amanda Zolman (1762) round out the field.

The afternoon began with the first 2006 champions being crowned in several field events. Reigning team champion UW-Milwaukee took the to five spots in the men's long jump, with freshman Adam Schleis (6.99m) leading teammates Justin Bohler (6.93), Sean Cloudy (6.86), Darren Cole (6.66) and Josh Zill (6.65).  Youngstown State's Clarence Howell finished sixth with a jump of 6.62m.    On the women's side, Jenni Saarinen took the title with a jump of 6.03m.

Youngstown State's Bethany Anderson claimed her first outdoor title in the women's hammer throw, setting a mark of 52.08m.  UIC's Sara O'Mara finished second with a mark of 50.48, more than five meters ahead of YSU's Amy Hill in third (45.03).

After red-shirting the 2005 outdoor season, YSU's Jarrod Davis earned the crown in the men's hammer throw, hitting a mark of 58.26 m to outdistance teammate Joe Lahmon in second place by more than eight meters. The mark also eclipsed the former meet record of 57.91 set by Matt Groh of Detroit in 2003.   UIC senior Nick Gazis finished third with a throw of 49.75 m.

UWM's Stephanie Ray won her third consecutive crown in the women's pole vault, clearing a height of 3.39m (11-01.50).  Youngstown State's Stephanie Jarvis finished second with a mark of 3.29, followed by Detroit's Nicole Gillikin in third with 3.19m.    On the men's side, Youngstown State's Derek Riker ended an eight-year string of UWM victories on the men's pole vault, reaching a height of 4.70m to defeat Milwaukee's Jerry Snyder.  The victory was the first Horizon League outdoor title for Riker.

Detroit's Krista Switzer won her second Horizon League championship in the javelin, hitting a mark of 39.22 meters to outdistance a duo of Panthers in Jenni Saarinen (38.38) and Katie Slamka (35.97). On the men's side, Jarrod Davis picked up his second title of these championships, throwing for a distance of 53.47m. 

In the night's only running event finals, Butler's Andrew Toward made a last lap push to overcome top-seeded Dave Mealy of Youngstown State to win the championship in the men's 10,000 (31:20.01), while Loyola's Amanda Domich took the women's championship, crossing the line in 37:30.89.   UWM's Josh Nygren (9:29.21) and Detroit's Leann Sarka (11:25.37) claimed the titles in the men's and women's 3000m steeplechase to round out the day's events.

Action continues tomorrow with the finals in the remaining running events and the men's and women's triple jump, discus high jump and shot put.  The decathlon and heptathlon will conclude beginning tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.

 Women - Team Rankings - 6 Events Scored
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    1) UWM                        79         2) YSU                       53
    3) DETR                       29         4) UIC                        11
    5) LOYL                        10         6) WSU                      4
    7) BTLR                        0          

   Men - Team Rankings - 6 Events Scored
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    1) UWM                       71         2) YSU                       66
    3) UIC                        20          4) BTLR                      14   
    5) DETR                      7           6) LOYL                       5