Christina Munoz wins 5,000 among four A&M victories at UCLA Invitational
Apr 11, 2009 | Track and Field
April 10, 2009
Los Angeles - Late evening distance racing produced an impressive win for Christina Munoz in the 5,000 meters at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational at Drake Stadium on the UCLA campus.
Munoz turned in a solid final kilometer to claim the 5,000 meters in 16:45.60 and earn a regional qualifying mark. She ran the final 1,000 meters in 3:17.8 to hold off UCLA's Katja Goldring, who clocked 16:48.70.
Kevin McNab turned in a third-place effort in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as he remained among the leaders and even led for various periods of the race. McNab's time of 9:01.71 also achieved the regional standard.
In the men's 5,000-meter race six Aggies raced in the final event of the night. Kevin Burnett led the A&M crew with a fourth place finish in 14:21.86 behind a trio of UCLA runners. Kent Morikawa posted a winning time of 14:13.89.
Joe Sauvageau finished sixth for the Aggies in 14:30.76. Andrew Montes clocked 14:50.29 for 17th and MacLean O'Donnell placed 20th in 14:56.73.
Open events during the Friday afternoon portion of the UCLA Invitational produced a pair of winning marks for Texas A&M along with a couple of runner-up efforts. The Aggies even had a victory late Thursday in the women's hammer.
Trinity Otto was a heat winner in 21.79 (6th) while Keenan Hall placed second in his section with a 22.22 (14th).
Elizabeth Adeoti, the lead-off leg for both A&M NCAA 4 x 100 titles the past two years, recorded the top time in the women's open division of the 100 with a season best mark of 11.70 seconds. Runner-up was Ronecia Nash in 11.89.
Aggie frosh Joey Roberts won the first section of the 400 in 48.02 seconds with teammate Michael Preble running third in 48.42. They placed second and fourth overall. The winning mark was a 48.01 by Reny Follett in the second section.
A throw of 212-10 (64.87) on his final throw earned Chad Brown third place in the javelin and a regional qualifying mark. The effort was a season best for Brown, who is coming off an injury. Prior to the sixth round mark Brown had a best of 199-0 (60.66) from the third round.
Also placing third in the women's javelin with a toss of 147-10 (45.07) was Hali Henderson finished fourth with a 146-1 (44.53) mark that qualifies for the regional meet.
Other Aggies in the women's 100 field included a trio of triple jumpers. Yasmine Regis won her section in 12.19 to place sixth overall while Ashika Charan ran 12.32 (10th) and Tiffany Peters finished in 12.67 (18th).
The men's open 100 also featured three Aggie jumpers with Zuheir Sharif posted an 11.16 (14th) while Tyron Stewart ran 11.30 (18th).
Leading the A&M sprinters in the women's 200 was Sandy Wooten with a 24.52 clocking to place second in her section and fourth overall. Vashti Thomas was a heat winner with a time of 24.57 (6th) while Brittany Machacek ran 24.95 (11th).
In late Thursday action, Aggie thrower Deidre Tarver won the open section of the hammer with a toss of 166-2 (50.66) to better the field by 16 feet. Combining the results with the invitational division, Tarver placed sixth overall with her mark.
Other events on Friday included Chad Stoermer for eighth place in the pole vault. Angela Thomas finished 13th in the long jump with a mark of 16-4.25 (4.98).
Players Mentioned
