April 24, 2010

RedStorm track finishes 3^rd at MSC Meet; women 5^th

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's and women's track and field squads put forth strong efforts in the 2010 Mid-South Conference Championships at the Stockmeister Track & Field facility on the Rio Grande campus. The men finished 3^rd with 111 points while the women placed fifth, scoring 88 points.

The men were in fourth position when Day Two of the meet began on Saturday. The women started the second day in third position.

Sophomore Tracie Brown (Logan, OH) claimed her second MSC Championship of the meet with a first place finish in the women's discus throw. Her best effort was 36.04 meters. Junior Rachel Walker (Ironton, OH) was runner-up with a best toss of 33.62 meters. 

Junior Cassie Mattia (West Chester, OH) ran extremely well in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing second with a time of 1:03.74. Mattia narrowly missed out on first as Kennisha Holden of Shorter edged her at the line with a time of 1:03.66. Mattia's time was good enough to qualify for the NAIA National Meet in the event.

Sophomore Danielle Stockham (London, OH) placed fourth in the 5,000-meter race walk. She covered the distance in 28:01.72. 

The 4 x 100-meter relay team of freshman Hayley McSurley (Plumwood, OH), Cassie Mattia, Rachel Walker and sophomore Kayla Graves (Chillicothe, OH) finished 7^th with a time of 51.22. Graves also finished 8^th in the 400-meter dash (1:00.21). 

Graves, sophomore Molly Roark (South Webster, OH), McSurley and Mattia were the foursome that made up the 4 x 400-meter relay that claimed fourth place (4:09.05). 

Rio Grande head coach Bob Willey was pleased with the performances of both of his teams. "In the fall of the year when we see how many people we have, and then come track season you always have injuries here and there. Every team and every coach goes through that and we've had our share," Willey said. "I just didn't know if we could beat anybody. We knew we had some outstanding athletes, we just didn't have the numbers, but a lot of our people really stepped up and had some outstanding performances."

"I'm thrilled," Willey added. "Everybody always wants to win, no doubt about that, but in reality you deal with what you have and I think our kids really stepped up, both the ladies and the men."

"We knew there was going to be a few points difference between, like, third place and sixth place on both sides. We were trying to get those points the best we could and our kids did all they could do," he said.

Elyse Velte of Cumberlands was the MSC Female Athlete of the Year. Sherria Hester of Lindsey Wilson was named the MSC Freshman of the year. Shorter head coach Scott Byrd was both men's and women's MSC Coach of the Year. 

Shorter won the team championship with 257 points. Cumberlands finished 2^nd (159) followed by Lindsey Wilson, 3^rd (116), Campbellsville, 4^th (107), Rio Grande, 5^th (88), Bethel, 6^th (62) and Georgetown College, 7^th (51).

Rio has some tough competition coming up with a select group heading to Ohio State to compete in the Jesse Owens Classic (May 1) and a different group heading to Durham, NC to compete in the Duke Twilight Meet (May 3).