Albuquerque, N.M. – Adebola Akomolafe registered the fifth-longest weight throw in UTEP program history on her second heave of the day at the Cherry & Silver Invitational. The El Paso native tossed the weight a personal best of 17.51m (57-5.50) on her way to a bronze showing.
“I felt like you could see the progression from week one to week two today,” head coach Mika Laaksonen said. “We seemed a little more at ease and comfortable and got some good marks, hopefully it will continue tomorrow.”
Fayon Gonzales, a fellow weight thrower, registered a fifth-place showing with a toss of 16.91m (55-5.75). On the men’s side, Kevin Rincon notched a personal best with a projectile throw of 15.12m (49-7.25).
The Miners registered 15 personal bests on day one of the Cherry & Silver. Two of those personal bests came from newcomers on the women’s side.
Both Winny Koech and Tobi Amusan just arrived in El Paso earlier this week. In her first event for the Orange and Blue, Koech, a distance runner, carded a second-place finish in the 3,000m run with a time of 10:11.75. Amusan, an extraordinary hurdler, clocked a 60m hurdle time of 8.59 and easily advanced to the semifinals in the 60m hurdles tomorrow morning.
“I was very pleased with how both the new ladies (Koech and Amusan) performed,” Laaksonen said. “Both of these athletes had very little time to get acclimated, so both of their performances were solid with the time they had to prepare.”
Freshman standout Brittney Trought ran stride for stride with Amusan and qualified for the semifinals in the 60m hurdles as well. Senior hurdler Sven Zellner took care of business in his 60m hurdle heat with a mark of 8.16 to advance to tomorrow’ssemifinals as well. In the 60m dash, Tyler Ragin collected a personal best for the second-straight week with a readout of 7.74 seconds.
Sophomore Alexis Roberts registered a personal best in the 60m dash (8.07) and in the 200m dash (25.44/28th place). Florence Uwakwe finished sixth in a field of 66 200m dash runners with a time of 24.34. Imani Adams recorded a personal best in the event too with a time of 25.48 to finish in 30th place .
In the men’s 3,000m run, Antony Kosgei demolished his prior personal best (8:51.36) and surpassed that by 20 seconds with a time of 8:31.57 to finish third. Evans Kiprono crossed the finish line in fifth place with a time of 8:53.90 in a field of 20 runners. Gladys Jerotich, who ran in the second section of the women’s 3,000m run, clocked a personal best with a time of 10:19.05 to place fourth overall.
In the 600m run, Brittney Adams (1:36.64/personal best) and Dreshanae Rolle (1:36.89/personal best) both won their heats and finished sixth and seventh overall respectively. On the men’s side, Daniel Tarango won his heat and finished 10th overall with a time of 1:21.34. Yinka Oyebanjo-Odofin clocked a personal best time of 1:26.08 in the event.
Nickevea Wilson jumped herself to a seventh-place showing in the long jump with a mark of 5.76m (18-10.75). Wilson will be competing in the triple jump tomorrow.
Author: UTEP Athletics
