Miami Student

Issue date: 4/17/07 Section: Sports

Miami sophomore Pat Sovacool leads the pack during the wet and rainy 22nd annual Miami Invitational Saturday afternoon.

On a very cold, very wet Saturday afternoon, both Miami's men's and women's track and field teams placed at the top in the 22nd annual Miami Invitational.

Running at home for the first and only time all season, the poor running conditions were no match for Miami's top runners. The men's team took home a second place finish, scoring 125 points, while the women beat 13 other teams, winning the entire invitational. The women's team score of 199.5 was 92.5 points of the second place Cincinnati Bearcats.

The women grabbed three first place finishes on the day. Sophomore Alexis Lape won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:03.92. Her two teammates, junior Andrea Tepe and redshirt freshman Alisha Jones followed her across the tape, taking second and third in the event.

Freshman Margarita Pogorelov pulled in a first place finish in the 100 meters while senior Lashonda Davis took first place in the long jump, flying 19 feet 1 ¼ inches to the top of the podium.

Along with the three first place victories, the women's team sent athletes to the podium in 14 other events, including top three finishes in pole vault, long jump, triple jump, 1,500 meters and hammer throw.

The women continued their dominance as the 4x400 meter relay took first place with a time of 3:58.93 while the 4x100 meter relay placed third.

Yet the conditions did play somewhat of a factor in the end result of the invitational.

"In my 10 year career of running track, I've never had to run in worse conditions," said sprinter Stefan Flessa. "It seemed like a lot of the times were slower with the cold but not everyone's - Pat Sovacool had one of his best times ever."

Sovacool's first place finish in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:47.80 was enough to qualify him for the NCAA MidEast Regional. Two other RedHawks on the men's team managed first place finishes.

Junior Ben Robinson won his first individual event in a college meet in the 800 meters in a time of 1:56.87. Additionally, junior Bryan Ferres took the top spot in the javelin as well, with a throw of 174 feet and 6 inches.

The men's team was able to take capture 12 top-three finishes, climbing the podium for the 200 meters, hammer throw, high jump, 400 meters, 5,000 meters, long jump, and 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Continued...

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