Falcons Off To Fast Start In First Outdoor Meet
3/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
March 24, 2003
Neither snow nor flight delays could stop the track team from competing at the Florida State Relays in Tallahassee Saturday, the first outdoor meet of the season for the Falcons.
The team tried to leave from Denver last Thursday for the Friday-Saturday event. Thirty-six hours later team members ended up at three Florida airports-Jacksonville, Orlando and Tallahassee. By 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning, most all of the team members arrived at their hotel.
Senior Jocelyn Dooley, the only cadet to make Friday's competition, broke her own school javelin record with a throw of 148-feet, 8-inches. Her previous record was 146-feet, 3-inches set last season. The throw also qualified her for the NCAA Regional to be held in May.
Dooley's performance was just one of several standout efforts by the women's team. Other highlights included:
-- A third place finish by senior Elissa Ballas in the 1,500-meters with a time of 4:32.85, just off her personal record of 4:32.68.
-- A third place finish by junior LaTravia Robinson in the triple jump at 40-feet, 0-inches. The jump ranks second on the school's all-time list and also qualifies her for the NCAA Regional.
-- A third place finish in the sprint medley relay by the team of Jill Adamek, Jami Hodge, Katy Crow and Cindy Dawson with a time of 4:09.47 (behind only Michigan and Florida State);
-- A second place finish in the 4x1,500-meter relay by the team of Nicole Graham, Anne Chumlea, Ballas and Vivien Aspden. Their time of 19:43.64 is the third fastest in school history.
The men's sprint medley relay team of Nick Bromberek, Luke Marker, Tom Clark and Bryant Bevan won their event with a time of 3:24.85. In the 400-meter hurdles, junior Jim Campbell posted a winning time of 53.65.
The Falcons compete next Saturday in the University of Florida Relays in Gainesville.
