Canyon, Texas - Cowgirl Track athletes
Danisha Phipps (Heptathlon) and
Sheneika Rochester (100M) each moved into the national top ten with their performances at the West Texas A&M Open in Canyon, Texas over the weekend (Apr. 12-13).
Phipps, who qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the multi-event back in March, opened her 2013 outdoor season in the heptathlon with a 4868-point performance— enough for ninth on the NCAA DII national performance list. She also hit a provisional qualifying mark in the High Jump during the Heptathlon, clearing a personal best of 1.69m (5' 6 ½”).
“Danisha started the hep off with two big personal records, “ noted HU assistant coach Molly Cummings, “ She improved her Hurdle time by more than seven-tenths of a second and her High Jump by more than an inch. She lost some points in the Long Jump and Shot, but overall it was a very good meet for Danisha.” The heptathlon is a two-day event in which athletes compete in the 100M Hurdles, High Jump, Shot Put, 200M Dash, Long Jump, Javelin and 800M run. Points are awarded for based on standards set for each event. Phipps also beat her previous personal record in the Javelin by over 14 feet on her way to her national qualifying score.
Rochester also moved into the national top ten with an 11.80 clocking in the 100M Dash. The time is Rochester's best performance other than a wind-aided mark (11.52) at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Rochester is a three time All-American in the 100 and 4 x 100M Relay for the Cowgirls and placed third in the 100M at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor championships.
Destiny Dilworth—the 2013 RMAC Freshman-of-the-Year during the indoor season—scored 4248 in her first collegiate Heptathlon coming up just short of the NCAA provisional qualifying mark (4400). That score moves Dilworth to the top three on the RMAC performance list for the current outdoor season behind her teammate and just 25 points behind Erin Beach of CSM.
Mid-distance standout
Brianna Cathcart set a new personal best in the 800 Meters. Cathcart ran a 2:26.29 into a fierce headwind on the finishing straight to nip Eastern New Mexico's Dana Caro at the tape.
Laura Gomez also set a new personal record in that race, running 2:29.93 for fourth place.
Danielle Vigil and
Mariah Sanchez both improved on their personal bests in the 400-Meter Hurdles. Vigil ran 1:04.85 to place second and move into third place on the RMAC performance list while Sanchez lowered her lifetime best to 1:08.83 in winning her heat on Saturday. Pole Vaulter
CiCi Cordova came up just one centimeter shy of an NCAA qualifying mark in the Pole Vault at West Texas. Cordova cleared 3.50M (11-5 ¾”).
The Cowgirls have cancelled plans to compete at the Michael Johnson Invite at Baylor University this weekend and will instead “heal up a little and train a lot”, according to Head Coach
Bob DeVries, as they get ready for the Texas Tech Twilight on Thursday April 25th in Lubbock, Texas.
GO COWGIRLS!!!
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