May 5, 2007

CHARLESTON, Ill. ---- The Samford track and field team wrapped up competition Saturday at the O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships hosted by Eastern Illinois in Charleston, Ill. The Bulldog men finished fourth with 85 points, while the women finished sixth with 64 points. Host team Eastern Illinois came out on top on both the men's and women's side, sweeping the title in the two-day event.

Michael Smith qualified for the NCAA Regional in day two, running the 400-meter hurdles in 52 seconds flat. He took second place in that event while also taking second place in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.02. In Friday's competition, he ran the fastest time in the 110-meter hurdle preliminaries. He will join fellow Bulldog Lauren Blankenship at the NCAA Regionals set for May 25-26.

Blankenship won the 5,000-meter run Saturday with a time of 17:02.81. Friday, she won the 10,000-meter race. She earned all-OVC honors for her performances and will go the Regionals to compete in both of these events as well as the 1500-meter run.

Cameron Cardwell tied with Austin Peay's Molly Bartkiewicz in the pole vault, vaulting 11'11.75" to set a new championship and O'Brien Staduim record as well as an all-time Samford record. Bartkiewicz won the title by having less misses. Anna Fearon took 11th in that same event with a vault of 9'00.25".

Daphne Anderson took fourth place in the women's 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.72 while Morgan Tyler placed earned all-OVC honors and set a new personal record with her third place finish in the 400-meter hurdles, running a time of 1:02.31. She set a new school record in the preliminaries of that event by running the fastest preliminary time on Friday.

Ashley Dance came in fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.17 while Katherine Herring, Robyn DeBenedet and Jessica Van Ausdall took second (4:35.93), 11th (4:48.90) and 12th (4:49.26), respectively in the 1500-meter run. Katherine Herring earned all-OVC honors for her performance while setting a new personal record.

In the men's 3000-meter steeplechase, three Bulldogs took second, third and fourth place. Michael Hanson, who had his appendix removed two weeks earlier, finished second place while setting a new personal best of 9:24.46, earning himself all-OVC honors. Freshman Blaise Carie took third and earned all-OVC honors with a time of 9:41.96 while freshman Spencer Anderwald finished fourth with a time of 9:45.53. Coming in seventh place was freshman Chas Keithan with a time of 10:10.52.

Will Denton took fourth in the men's 800-meter run (1:52.36) and set a new personal record while four Samford men placed in the men's 5,000-meter run. Drew Anderwald placed third and earned all-OVC honors (15:19.02) and Michael Hanson placed sixth (15:40.12) while Cameron Bean took tenth (16:26.10) and Michael Schwartz took 12th (16:46.26).

In the men's 1500-meter run, Blaise Carie came in fifth (3:54.73) and set a new personal record while Schwartz took ninth (4:02.45) and Chas Keithan took 13th (4:13.60).

In the relay events, the men's 4x100-meter relay team (Ackerson, Mardis, Londeen, Baker) took fifth with at time of 45.93 while the women's 4x100-meter relay team (Rox, Dance, Voorhies, Anderson) took sixth place with a time of 48.57. In the 4x400-meter relay, the Bulldog men (Ackerson, Denton, Carie, Smith) placed fourth at 3:22.35 while the women (Decker, Tyler, Flowers, Dance) took fifth at 3:52.78.

In the field events, Jon Londeen earned all-OVC honors with his third place finish in the men's pole vault with a vault of 12'03.50". Morgan Tyler placed sixth in the triple jump (38'3.25"). Chris Davis placed 15th in the discus throw with at distance of 102'09" while Kyle Seckinger took 13th (93'09") and Lawton Goethe tied at 15th (93'09").