Walker, Tamgho Lead Tracksters at Auburn

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Senior Juan Walker posted NCAA regional qualifying marks in the long jump and high hurdles and junior Stephanie Tamgho improved her NCAA regional mark in the long jump, leading the Middle Tennessee track teams on a cold and very windy Saturday at the Tiger Track Classic in Auburn, Ala.

Walker finished third in the long jump with an NCAA mark of 24-3.5 and came back later in the day with another NCAA mark, placing fourth in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.03. Walker also came in seventh in the 200-meters in 22.00.

Tamgho tied for the highest finish by either team, finishing second in the long jump with an NCAA regional mark of 20-3, improving by one-and-a-half inches over the 20-1.5 she posted two weeks ago at the Alabama Relays.

Senior James Thomas also had a second-place finish, posting a mark of 157-10 in the discus while also placing seventh on Friday in the hammer throw with a mark of 174-9.

Also for the men, freshman Duronal Monal placed seventh in the 100-meters in 10.81 and the men's 4x400-meter relay of junior Chris Travis, freshman Julius Kurui, junior Tony Carufe and freshman Philip Benavides finished eighth in 3:37.28.

For the Blue Raider women, Tamgho finished fourth and junior Sierra Douglas tied for fifth in the triple jump with marks of 39-11.5 and 39-10.75, respectively. Freshman Brittany Cox placed seventh in the shot put with a mark of 45-9.

In the running events, freshman Tenesha Hill finished fourth in the 100-meters in 11.97, while sophomore Erika Palmer was seventh in the 100 in 12.13 and placed seventh in the 200-meters in 24.81.

Senior Sara Lunning broke her own school record in the 3000-meter steeplechase, besting the previous record by three one-hundredths of a second. Lunning finished sixth in 11:31.44.

In the 5000-meters, sophomores Tiffany Sawyer and Ashleigh Thaler placed fifth and seventh, respectively, with times of 18:40.45 and 19:04.03.

"We had some really good performances considering the weather wasn't very good at all," head coach Dean Hayes said. "Juan had a couple of qualifying marks and is starting to get healthy, and Stephanie improved on her mark in the long jump. We just have to keep working everyday in practice and continue to improve as we aim for the Sun Belt [Championship] in a little more than a month."

The Middle Tennessee track teams will again split next weekend, with some members heading to Knoxville, Tenn., for the Sea Ray Relays on April 13-14 and the remainder of the team taking part in the Boston-Moon Classic in Nashville, Tenn., on April 14.

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