FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 4, 2009
Women’s Track Sets Six Records during Indoor Season
Four different student-athletes change school record book
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – With the conclusion of the 2009 indoor season, the Marshall women’s track team has a lot to look back on and be proud of from the 2008-09 indoor season. In addition to the personal best and winning events, the six school records that were set by four different student-athlete stand out.
Though the records that fell were all individual, the new marks are more than personal bests. The records are motivation for these athletes and their teammates to excel and take the program to the next level.
Kristin Smith, High Jump/Pentathlon
Records: 5-08.75 feet (High Jump), 3,699 points (Pentathlon)
Old Record: 5-08.00 feet (Kate Schulz, 2001), 3331 points (Andrea Perry, 2002)
Last season, Kristin Smith (Baltimore, Md.) entered Marshall with a chance to prove herself and she did just that. By the end of her first year, Smith was in a position to take home a conference title in the high jump.
Unfortunately, she would come up just short finishing second in the event earning her second team all-conference honors. Coming so close to a title gave her the confidence to know she belonged and with the advice of her coaches kept her believing.
“I had come so close to breaking a record. In the outdoor last year, I was an inch off,” Smith said. “You have to be patient; the marks will come. As coach says, ‘when it’s the most important time, they will come’ and it did.”
Now as a sophomore, Smith hit one of those important times and came through as she was able to win in the Pentathlon at the Conference USA championships in Houston. The pentathlon consists of five events: 60-meter hurdles, shot put, long jump, 800-meter run and Smith’s event, the high jump.
In four out of the five events, she placed in the top five putting her one step closer to a title. Last year’s experience proved to be what Smith needed to take home a title with a 5-08.75 foot mark in the high jump to win the event and the pentathlon.
“I didn’t think it was going to happen, when I saw I had a chance to win it, I thought I couldn’t. At the end of it, I couldn’t believe it.”
Now with a championship in the indoor, Smith says now is a time to just get better and keep working for herself and her team so they can keep taking records.
Andrea Jackson, Triple Jump
Record: 40-09.50 feet
Old Record: 40-00.75 feet (Andrea Jackson, 2008)
Junior Andrea Jackson (Sumter, S.C.) is no stranger to making history with the Thundering Herd. At the end of the 2008 indoor season, Jackson set the school record with a 40-00.75 foot leap in the triple jump at the C-USA championships.
As an encore, during the outdoor season, she set the school record in the same event multiple times with a best coming in at 41-08.50 feet during the Penn Relays. Her mark was good enough to qualify her for the NCAA Regionals.
In 2009, Jackson tacked on to her success by once again re-writing the records books with a 40-09.50 feet leap at the Virginia Tech Challenge. The mark was an improvement by nearly nine inches off her old record.
“It just feels good because I know each year that I’m improving,” Jackson said. “Rod (Cowan) has been telling me to work on my mechanics and telling me about the little things to change to make the jumps better.”
Owning a record however isn’t all that she is concerned about. Jackson said she’s looking at the big picture and going out for everything she can get.
“I want to go back to regionals and then nationals,” she said. “I want to keep breaking that record and not just once. I want to keep improving and doing better.”
Delkira Maybrin, 60-meter/200-meter
Records: 7.62 (60-meter), 24.97 (200-meter)
Old Records: 7.65 (Carmisa Morris, 2007), 25..05 (Yvonne Ferguson, 2004)
Collegiate athletics is a big step up from high school, but freshman Delkira Maybrin (Newberry, S.C.) entered her first year without missing a step.
Throughout the indoor season, Maybrin had been competing in the spirits, working in the 60 and 200 meter as well as being a member of the 4x400 team.
Maybrin set her first record at the Virginia Tech Challenge in the 200-meter with a 24.97 time. The 60-meter mark came at the end of the season at conference championships with a 7.62. Just as quick as her events go, the effects of setting a school best hasn’t got to Maybrin..
“It really hasn’t hit me yet,” Maybrin said. “I’ve been told it’s a big accomplishment and it’s very exciting. It’s a big goal done so early.”
With half of her freshman year over, Maybrin has turned her focus on the other half of the Marshall record book in the outdoor events.
“I plan to get my times around the records in the 100 and 200 meter events,” she said. “I also want that 4x400 mark but to get there I’m going to keep working hard to get it.”
Rolanda Bruce, 600-meter
Record: 1:39.40
Old Record: 1:39.89 (Stephanie Eastman, 2003)
Junior Rolanda Bruce (East Orange, N.J.) came into this year with experience and a lot of already put in hard work over her time at Marshall and the results started to show with her record in the 600-meter.
With a time of 1:39.40 beating out Stephanie Eastman’s six year old record, Bruce said the record is just as much for the coaches because they teach so much to the athletes.
“Patience and understanding; it’s something they (the coaches) teach us,” she said. “They do a great job of making athletes comfortable and the transition from high to college is sometimes rough but our coaches do a great job teaching us these things.”
Just as her teammate, Maybrin, Bruce already has her eyes set on records for the upcoming outdoor season including a shared interest in the 4x400 relay as both are members of the group.
“I want the 400-meter mark and take it to regionals,” she said. “It was great to get that record; we had a great season in indoor and ended strong. It’s time for outdoor now.”
Brad Bader
Marshall Sports Information Graduate Assistant
Primary Sports: Softball, Men's Soccer, Women's Track, Cross Country
Office: 304-696-4662
E-mail: bader4@marshall.edu
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