Feb. 27, 2015
FINAL RESULTS
Birmingham, Ala. - The UTEP women's track and field team made history Thursday evening at the Birmingham CrossPlex; the women tallied 122 points, and cruised past second-place WKU (88 points) to take home the title.
Joan Jepkirui was named the Freshman of the Meet, and the co-Women's High Scorer of the Meet. The native Kenyan tallied a total of 18 points by finishing first in the 3,000m run with a time of 9:44.11; she also ran to a second-place finish in the 5,000m run with a time of 16:44.24.
Greta Kerekes won the 60m hurdles with a CrossPlex record and personal best of 8.33. In the 60m hurdles, the Miners took three of the top four spots. The aforementioned Kerekes took first, senior Anna-Kay James too second place with a time of 8.40 and Jallycia Pearson notched a fourth-place finish with a mark of 8.46.
In the 400m dash, UTEP claimed three of the top five spots for 22 points. Ada Benjamin set a Conference USA meet record with a time of 53.95. Aiyanna Stiverne was not far off of Benjamin's pace with a time of 54.29 to finish second. Florence Uwakwe finished fifth with a mark 55.78.
Nickevea Wilson landed a second-place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 12.64m (41-5.75).
Pearson and Aeisha McDavid picked up second and sixth-place finishes for UTEP in the pentathlon, respectively. Pearson won the 60m hurdle portion of the pentathlon, and McDavid set three new personal bests (800m, shot put and long jump) during the course of the events.
Israel Ramsay recorded a sixth-place showing in the high jump by clearing 1.69m (5-6.50). Fayon Gonzales finished seventh in the weight throw with a personal-best distance of 16.71m (54-10.00). Taylor Gunn registered a sixth-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 14.04m (46-0.75).
Lilian Koech provided two top-five performances for UTEP. The freshman ran two a second-place finish in the 3,000m run with a mark of 9:44.56; she also placed fifth in the mile run (5:01.79).
The Miners capped the sensational day off with a thrilling 4x400m relay race. The quartet of Stiverne, Uwakwe, Imani Adams and Benjamin set a conference meet record with a time of 3:38.28.
The men's team held the lead for about half the day until WKU (127 points) was too much to handle. The Miners put in a sensational effort to finish third in the team standings with 101 points.
Anthony Rotich did the best he could to put the team on his back. The senior was named the High Point Scorer of the Meet for the third consecutive year. He ran three races on the day; the native Kenyan won his 5,000m race with a mark of 14:27.05. Rotich also picked up second-place finishes in the mile (4:07.06) and the 3,000m run (8:35.95).
Rotich's distance running partner had a swell day as well. Cosmas Boit won the mile with a time of 4:06.02. He would later follow up and finish in third place in the 3,000m run with a time of (8:36.80).
In the long jump, the men placed three athletes inside the top six. Brandon Moss was the high-finisher (fourth place) with a leap of 7.30m (23-11.5). Carlos Hernandez finished fifth with a bound of 7.04m (23-1.25). Zach Newman set a new personal best (6.98m/22-11.0)on his way to a sixth-place finish.
Abiola Onakoya ran to a fifth-place finish in the 400m dash with a time of 48.40. James Bias was right behind him with a personal best of 48.51 for sixth place. Rounding out the trio, Carnell Horn finished seventh with a time of 48.53.
Darius Mitchell finished in fifth place in the 60m dash with a time of 6.85, and he notched a seventh-place finish in the 200m dash by crossing the finish line in 21.53 seconds. Isak Washington finished sixth in the 60m dash; the freshman recorded a personal best of 6.83 in the prelims.
Closing out the meet, the 4x400m relay team of A-Shawni Mitchell, Horn, Bias and Onokoya did not disappoint. They set a new conference meet record with a time of 3:11.43.
