April 27, 2002

‘Riders-Riderettes Compete In Track & Field Meet

Monroe, La.-Southern Arkansas University competed well in both the men and women’s divisions in the Indian Classic here Saturday, hosted by the University of Louisiana-Monroe. The meet was held at Groseclose track in Brown Stadium. Except for SAU and a talented Hinds (Miss.) Community College, the field was all NCAA Division I in the men’s division and Mississippi College replaced Hinds in the women’s field.

Competing were the University of Mississippi, the University of Memphis, the University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech University, Grambling State University, Northwestern State University, the University of Arkansas-Little Rock and host ULM from Division I.

In the first scored meet of the season for SAU, the Muleriders finished sixth in the men’s division only three points from fourth. SAU finished only two points behind UALR and Northwestern and finished ahead of Louisiana Tech, Ole Miss, Memphis and Grambling.

Southern Miss was first with 117 points, Louisiana Monroe was second with 90, Hinds was third with 82, UALR and NSU tied for fourth with 45, SAU was sixth with 43, LTU seventh with 39, Ole Miss eighth with 31, Memphis ninth with eight and GSU 10^th with six.

SAU’s strongest event was the 3,000-meter run, which was won by ‘Rider Matt Albertson in a time of 9:25.41 with teammate Tyler Johnson fourth. Eli Elias was fifth in the 110-meter high hurdles and was second in the 400 intermediates for the ‘Riders.

Others placing for SAU were Troy Maddox, who was sixth in the 400-meter dash in 49.10; Jermaine Jones finished third with a 1:58.92 time in the 800; Michael Hunt was fourth in the 1,500 in 4:08.89; the 4X400 relay team was fourth in 3:21.78 and the ‘Rider 4X100 relay team was unable to finish an event that might have moved SAU up in the standings. Kevin Waalk got the only field event points for the ‘Riders with a fifth place in the javelin.

Also competing for SAU were Ed White, who was 10^th in the 200-meter dash; Ricky Martinez, who was ninth in the 400; and Hunt and Shawn Beidler were seventh and ninth, respectively, in the 800.

In the women’s division, ULM was first with 157 points, USM was second with 133, Ole Miss was third with 90, LTU was fourth with 77, SAU fifth with 17, UALR sixth with 15, GSU seventh with 12 and Mississippi College eighth with 8.

Just as the ‘Riders, the Riderettes were strongest in the 3,000-meter run with Adriana Osornio finishing first for SAU in a time of 11:06.20. Teammate Valerie Ponce was sixth. Veronica Villagran was fourth for SAU in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. In other events, Pamela King was seventh in the 100 and 13^th in the 200-meter dashes. Samatha Robbins was eighth in the 1,500-meter run.

In the field events, Shelly Johnson got the Riderettes a sixth place in the discus and was sixth in the shot put.