March 1, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- A disappointing second day on the women's side prevented the Samford indoor track team from improving on their fifth place finishes from a year ago. Both men's and women's teams finished fifth after day two of the event, after several mishaps prevented the Bulldogs from staying in the top three.

Despite the disappointing placements, seven new school records were set by various Bulldogs in the championships. Ashley Flowers set a school record in the preliminaries of the 400-meter dash Friday night and broke that new record Saturday, placing third and All-OVC honors in the finals of the event with a time of 57.13. Lauren Blankenship set a new record on Friday night as well, winning the 5000-meter event with a time of 17:13.01. Hillary Neal placed second and also earned All-OVC honors in the women's mile, setting a new school record of 4:55.90 while Jessica Lucas threw a school record 37'10" in the women's weight throw.

Both the men's and women's 4x400-meter relays teams set new school records as well. The women (Flowers, Kady Decker, Morgan Tyler, Ashley Dance) ran a time of 3:55.13 while the men (Asa Ackerson, Will Denton, Sean Rogers, Michael Smith) ran a time of 3:25.35.

Also for the Bulldogs, Scott Buess took fifth in the men's 55-meter dash finals (6.59) while Smith placed fifth in the 55-meter hurdle finals (7.86). Dance placed sixth in the 400-meter dash finals with a time of 58.85 while Marissa Brokaw finished seventh out of eight runners in the 800-meters with a time of 2:18.94. Will Denton did the same in the men's event with a time of 1:55.00.

Scott Cope placed ninth (4:25.37) in the men's mile run while Blankenship earned another All-OVC honor as she won the 3000-meters with a time of 9:58.01. Ina Ables finished eighth in the event with Katie Almand and Lauren Pilcher following at 14th and 16th, respectively. Cameron Bean took ninth in the men's 3000-meters while Bo Brawner finished close behind at 13th.

In the field events, Tyler placed fourth in the women's triple jump with a jump of 38'8.75" while Chris Davis finished ninth in the men's shot put (43'3.25")

The Bulldogs will wrap up the indoor season next weekend, March 7-8, at the Alex Wilson Indoor Invitational hosted by Notre Dame.