Feb. 29, 2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ---- The Samford Indoor Track and Field team had a positive run in day one of the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships Friday at the Tennessee State Gentry Center. The Bulldog women are currently in third place, while the men sit at sixth.

The Samford women's distance medley team took third place with a time of 12:10.83, earning an automatic All-OVC standing. Hillary Neal anchored the Bulldogs, running a 4:56 mile. The men placed fifth in the event, running 10:33.80.

Lauren Blankenship nabbed her second consecutive OVC championship 5000-meter win Friday with a time of 17:13.0, almost one minute ahead of her competitors. She also earned All-OVC standing for her achievement. Ina Ables finished close behind at fourth place, running 18:20.03, while Lauren Pilcher took tenth with a time of 18:48.28.

In the men's 5000-meter run, Cameron Bean finished seventh with a time of 15:25.75 while Bo Brawner (15:32.48) and Patrick Ollinger (16:11.83) took 11th and 15th, respectively.

In the field events, Morgan Tyler placed tenth in the women's long jump with a jump of 18'1.50" with Ciara Floyd right her setting a new personal best with a jump of 17'11.00. Morgan Read also set a new personal best, jumping 17'03.50 and finishing 13th. Chris Davis also took ninth in the men's shot put with a distance of 43'3.25.

Marissa Brokaw and Will Denton have qualified for their respective 800-meter events which will be run tomorrow. Ashley Flowers set a new school record and (57.61) in the preliminaries of the 400-meter dash, qualifying her for the finals along with Ashley Dance.

Scott Buess qualified for the 55-meter dash finals with a time of 6.56. Tyler qualified for the women's 55-meter hurdles finals with a time of 8.19 while Michael Smith qualified for the men's finals in the same event with a time of 7.71.

The OVC Indoor Championship resume Saturday at 10 a.m. Fans can find a full recap on www.samfordsports.com and results will be available on www.ovcsports.com upon the completion of competition Saturday.