Track & Field February 18, 2013 USF

Bulls Make Program History at Big East Indoors

By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

TAMPA - The USF track and field team posted its best-ever finishes Sunday at the Big East Track and Field Indoor Championships while senior Monique Williams also made program history.

Chase Meyers (high jump) and Matthew Oneal (triple jump) won titles for a USF men's team that took third place with 89 points, behind Notre Dame (105.5 points) and champion UConn (143) at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Williams won the triple jump and later became the program's first Big East Indoor Performer of the Meet after the USF women's team took fourth place with 84.5 points. Notre Dame won the title with 141 points and was followed by UConn (109 points) and Villanova (98.5).

Williams' triple jump win came a day after she won the long jump. The Boca Raton, Fla., native also placed ninth the 60-meter finals and set a new personal record during her triple jump victory.

School records have fallen each week this spring during USF's stops to Alabama, Notre Dame, Kansas and Penn State. Head coach Warren Bye said the program's best finishes in the Big East indoor meet are testaments to the hard work everyone has put in all season.

"It says a lot about what our coaches have done recruiting and preparing our kids. It says a lot about what our kids have done working hard, stepping up and getting better," Bye said. "The results prove it and I'm proud of everybody."

The Bulls as a whole won six titles over the two-day event including every jumping event on the men's side. USF's winners on Saturday were Williams, Neamen Wise (long jump) and Drew Volz (pole vault).

Three more school records were broken on the USF women's side on Sunday. Courtney Anderson topped her previous program record with a high jump mark of 5' 11 ¼" that earned her a second-place ribbon. Rachael James set the program's new 400-meter record in prelims and outdid that when she took second with a time of 54.39 seconds in the event. The 4x400 team of James, Melissa Teape, Aireonna Bailey and Christine Poole-Trice set a new USF record with a third-place time of 3:39.47.

"Going into the meet we had to take care of the field events and by the looks at things, we did," Bye said. "It was a very good weekend for the Bulls."

USF SUNDAY RESULTS
(!-personal best, sr-school record)

Women's Triple Jump
1. Monique Williams, 41-3.25 (12.58m)!
8. Marqueshia Stallworth, 39-3.25 (11.97m)
18. Natasha Stewart, 36-5.5 (11.11m)

Men's Triple Jump
1. Matthew Oneal, 49-11.25 (15.22m)!
2. Shane Lewis, 49-11 (15.21m)!

Men's High Jump
1. Chase Meyers, 7-1 (2.16m)!

Women's High Jump
2. Courtney Anderson, 5-11.25 (1.81m)!sr (outdid own sr set earlier in the year)

Women's 4x400m Relay
3. M. Teape, A. Bailey, C. Poole-Trice, R. James, 3:39.47sr

Women's 200m
4. Aieronna Bailey, 24.13
6. Dariel Jackson, 24.24!

Men's 400m
7. Pascal Orelus, 48.76

Men's 60m
7. Neaman Wise, 6.94
8. Alfred Higgs, 7.13

Men's 60m Hurdles
7. Landon Hargrove, 8.20!

Women's 400m
2. Rachael James, 54.39!sr (outdid one she set in prelims)
7. Christine Poole-Trice, 55.74

Women's 60m
5. Dariel Jackson, 7.51!
9. Monique Williams, 7.68