Women's Indoor Track & Field - Sat, Feb. 11, 2012
(Allendale,
Mich.) The annual Big Meet hosted by Grand Valley State University turned out
to be a showcase of freshmen talent for the Golden Eagles.
Anita Souza, Julie
Osterhouse and
Larissa Hampton let the team to six school records, seven
national qualifying marks and twelve personal bests.
On Friday, Souza
and Oosterhouse took turns outdoing each other. Julie got things started by
winning the 600 meters by nearly two seconds in 1:35.87 - the fourth best mark
in the NAIA this season. She also erased
the school record of 1:37.51 set in 2010 by Kelly Peterson. Souza followed by lowering her school record
in the 60 meter hurdles with the top time in the NAIA. Her time of 8.61 was
good for third.
Souza ended
her day with a fifth place finish in the invitational section of the 200
meters, taking 4/10th of a
second off her school record, running 25.01 for sixth, keeping her 13th
on the NAIA list.
Competing in
the invitational section of the long jump, Brittany Green jumped within 1
centimeter of her best and 3 centimeters off the school and freshman record.
Her mark of 17' 11.5" placed fifth.
Freshman
CallyAnne Wyma lowered her personal best in the 5,000 meters to 19:13.27.
Saturday,
Oosterhouse contributed a 2:14.9 800 meter split to a new school record in the
distance medley relay. Audry Yonge, Lauren Pierce, Oosterhouse and Julia
Contreras combined to run 12:13.46, shattering the mark of 12:26.17 set in
January by Contreras, Pierce, Oosterhouse and Jill Louisignau. Cornerstone
placed tenth and moved to fifth on the NAIA performance list.
Julie
returned to run the open 800 meters, settling at the back of the pack for the
first 600 meters of the race. "Typically, she's a little more aggressive, but I
figured she was feeling the effort from the previous two races," said coach Rod
Wortley. In the final 200 meters, the freshman from Byron Center moved up to
fifth, running nearly identical 68 second 400 splits. Her time of 2:16.63 took
two seconds off her school record set two weeks earlier and moved her to eighth
on the NAIA list.
Contreras
had enough left after running the 1600 meter anchor leg of the DMR to lower her
800 best to 2:21.51 for 30th.
Larissa Hampton
earned her first NAIA individual mark bettering the provisional standard in the
400 meters placing 11th in 59.42. The Fort Wayne native followed
that with a personal best, 26.14 taking 17th.
Moving into
the final event, Wortley moved Oosterhouse to the anchor leg of the 4 x 400
meter relay. "Usually Julie leads off, but after three hard races, I didn't
want her pushing too hard to set up her teammates." Pierce, Souza and Hampton raced extremely
well, getting the stick to Oosterhouse in third. Julie held form, running an
outstanding 57.9, hitting the finish line in third. The time of 3:55.31 was
another school record, breaking the old mark of 3:56.42 set in 2006 by Julie
Brusie, Amy VanderSloot, Cassie Donley and Stephanie Allers. The time also moves Cornerstone to seventh on
the NAIA list.