March 31, 2007

BATON ROUGE, La. - Senior Gloria Asumnu and junior Aubrey Phillips shined for the Tulane women's track and field team during this weekend's Tiger Classic at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium at LSU. While Phillips won the 5,000-meter run, Asumnu posted a regional qualifying mark and helped the 4x100-meter relay team to a second-place finish and a qualifying time of its own.

Phillips, one of three Green Wave runners in the 5,000-meter run, took home victory in the event with a time of 17:38.84. In addition to being nearly 20 seconds faster than the second-place finisher, her time also marked an improvement of more than one minute over her previous collegiate best.

Meanwhile, Asumnu placed third in the 200-meter dash one week after breaking her own school record in the event by nearly half a second. Though short of that record, Asumnu's time of 23.12 seconds was enough to give her a qualifying mark for the NCAA Mideast Regionals scheduled to take place in May at the University of Missouri. It was her second qualifying time in the event in as many weeks.

Asumnu was also part of the Tulane 4 x 100-meter relay team that took second overall. The team's time of 45.45 seconds was the fastest by a Green Wave relay team this season and qualified the team for the NCAA Mideast Regionals.

Personal best performances were also turned in by senior Lauren Swenson in the 1,500-meter run and junior Taneekwa Ross in the 100-meter dash. Sophomore Whitney Hampton tallied a season-best mark in the 800-meter dah.

The first two days of the Tiger Classic featured the heptathlon, with Tulane freshman and Baton Rouge native Nicolette Taku finishing ninth overall.

The team will travel to Austin, Texas, next week to compete in the Texas Relays April 5 and 6.

Here are the results from the final day of the event:

4 x 100 METER RELAY
2. Pelham - Asumnu - Lobbins - Momoh, 45.45 (Regional Qualifying, Season Best)

1,500-METER RUN
5. Whitney Hampton, 4:46.63
16. Lauren Swenson , 5:52.14 (Personal Best)

400-METER DASH
10. Kyra Lobbins, 57.71

100-METER DASH
8. Taneekwa Ross, 12.09 (Personal Best)
11. Shaina Pelham, 12.27
15. Andrea Rosemond, 12.49

800-METER DASH
4. Whitney Hampton, 2:17.47 (Season Best)

200-METER DASH
3. Gloria Asumnu, 23.13 (Regional Qualifying)
12. Jasmine Momoh, 24.56
16. Olivia Kizzee, 25.07 (Personal Best)

5,000-METER RUN
1. Aubrey Phillips, 17:38.84 (Personal Best)
4. Cecelia Clarke, 18:45.03 (Personal Best)
7. Jill Shriver, 20:17.23

TRIPLE JUMP
4. Christina Tegbe, 11.15m (36-07.00)

For full results from the final day of the Tiger Classic, click here.

--Roll Wave--