Track and Field takes home inaugural Louisiana Cup
Troy LaFleur
Issue date: 3/30/09 Section: Sports
On Saturday, March 14, McNeese hosted its annual Cowboy Relays track meet. The weather looked to put a damper on all of the teams' performances, but McNeese prevailed to win the inaugural Louisiana Challenge Cup.
The cup is awarded to the school whose men's and women's teams earn the most points together overall at the meet. Other schools that competed were Southeastern, Northwestern State, Southern, Nicholls State, Texas-Dallas, Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe. ULL and ULM, however, did not have their full teams competing.
The Cowboys led all men's teams with 165 points, finishing with six first place victories in the 17 events. McNeese long distance runner David Rooney led all men with two first place finishes, in the 1500-meter and 3000-meter races. In the 3000-meter race, he defeated Southeastern's Henry Rop, who some consider the best long distance runner in the region, by two seconds. Other Cowboys who finished first place were Jacob Domingue in the shot put, Michael Dyer in the 800-meter run, Jonathon Koenck in the 3000-meter steeplechase and the 4x100-meter relay team of Andre Salmon, Charles Jackson, Ronald Stine and Torian Lindsey.
The men dominated the running events with five first place finishes, three second place finishes, five third place finishes and three fourth place finishes. The only race that the Cowboys did not place in was the 110-meter hurdles. The field performers put up a valiant effort and placed in three of the six events.
The Cowboys certainly missed standout javelin thrower David Richardson, who is out this year after having surgery on his shoulder. Ben Chretien, however, finished second in the javelin with a throw of 201-6. In the hammer throw, Jared Crafton finished fourth with a throw of 166-7, only three inches short of third place.
The Cowgirls led all women's teams with 129 points, finishing with four first place victories. They were led by Whitney McKinney, who set the Cowboy Relays meet record with a time of 56.33 seconds in the 400-meter run. Alvy Carragher, who placed first in the 3000-meter steeplechase, now owns the meet record in her event, because it was the first time it has been run at the Cowboy Relays. The other Cowgirls to finish first in their event were Christi McRae in the 100-meter run and DeAnn Washington, who threw 128 feet in the discus.
Washington also helped the Cowgirls out by placing second in the shot put and third in the hammer throw. Other noticeable performances for the women were second place finishes by Katarina Caraway in the 3000-meter steeplechase and Amy Guinn in the 3000-meter and 1500-meter runs; Kayla Fontenot also finished third in the triple jump.
The McNeese track teams put on a strong showing against some of their Southland Conference rivals and seem pretty confident about the rest of the season. "It was a good season opening meet for us. I thought that we had a good all-around performance," said McNeese track coach Brendon Gilroy.
Upcoming track meets will be at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, LSU and the University of Texas.
The cup is awarded to the school whose men's and women's teams earn the most points together overall at the meet. Other schools that competed were Southeastern, Northwestern State, Southern, Nicholls State, Texas-Dallas, Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe. ULL and ULM, however, did not have their full teams competing.
The Cowboys led all men's teams with 165 points, finishing with six first place victories in the 17 events. McNeese long distance runner David Rooney led all men with two first place finishes, in the 1500-meter and 3000-meter races. In the 3000-meter race, he defeated Southeastern's Henry Rop, who some consider the best long distance runner in the region, by two seconds. Other Cowboys who finished first place were Jacob Domingue in the shot put, Michael Dyer in the 800-meter run, Jonathon Koenck in the 3000-meter steeplechase and the 4x100-meter relay team of Andre Salmon, Charles Jackson, Ronald Stine and Torian Lindsey.
The men dominated the running events with five first place finishes, three second place finishes, five third place finishes and three fourth place finishes. The only race that the Cowboys did not place in was the 110-meter hurdles. The field performers put up a valiant effort and placed in three of the six events.
The Cowboys certainly missed standout javelin thrower David Richardson, who is out this year after having surgery on his shoulder. Ben Chretien, however, finished second in the javelin with a throw of 201-6. In the hammer throw, Jared Crafton finished fourth with a throw of 166-7, only three inches short of third place.
The Cowgirls led all women's teams with 129 points, finishing with four first place victories. They were led by Whitney McKinney, who set the Cowboy Relays meet record with a time of 56.33 seconds in the 400-meter run. Alvy Carragher, who placed first in the 3000-meter steeplechase, now owns the meet record in her event, because it was the first time it has been run at the Cowboy Relays. The other Cowgirls to finish first in their event were Christi McRae in the 100-meter run and DeAnn Washington, who threw 128 feet in the discus.
Washington also helped the Cowgirls out by placing second in the shot put and third in the hammer throw. Other noticeable performances for the women were second place finishes by Katarina Caraway in the 3000-meter steeplechase and Amy Guinn in the 3000-meter and 1500-meter runs; Kayla Fontenot also finished third in the triple jump.
The McNeese track teams put on a strong showing against some of their Southland Conference rivals and seem pretty confident about the rest of the season. "It was a good season opening meet for us. I thought that we had a good all-around performance," said McNeese track coach Brendon Gilroy.
Upcoming track meets will be at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, LSU and the University of Texas.
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