Jan. 15, 2002
THIS WEEK: Butler's track and field squad will begin its three-meet, indoor home series when it hosts the Stan Lyons Invitational at the National Institute for Sport and Fitness on the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis on Saturday, Jan. 19. The meet, named in honor of former Butler track and cross country coach Stan Lyons, will begin at 6 p.m. Throwing events will be held at the Butler Tennis Bubble on Butler's campus, beginning at 9 a.m. The Stan Lyons Open will be the first of three indoor meets hosted by Butler at NIFS this spring. The Smith Barney Invitational is slated to be held on Saturday, Jan. 26, while the prestigious Cannon IV Classic, which has annually featured some of the nation's top track and field performers, will be held on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8-9.
OPENING RUN: Butler opened its indoor track and field season at the non-scoring Purdue Open on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 11-12. Junior Alex Hall (Ft. Wayne) picked up the top finish for Butler's men by placing eighth in the 60 meter dash in 7.08. Also posting "Top 10" individual finishes were sophomore Trent Elliott (Westerville, Ohio), who placed ninth in the 60 meter hurdles (8.78), senior Ryan Falquist (Zionsville), who finished ninth in the high jump (1.81 m.), and freshman Chris King (Connersville), who wound up ninth in the shot put (13.56 m.). The top women's performance was turned in by freshman Jillian Snyder (Temperance, Mich.), who placed runner-up in the pole vault (3.05 m.). Butler picked up third place finishes from sophomore Rholonda Ash (Ft. Wayne) in the 600 meter run (1:37.16) and senior Monika Stupian (Veszprem, Hungary) in the 1600 meter run (5:18.25), while newcomer Maria Jusseawme finished fifth in the 600 meter run (1:40.34). Other "Top 10" individual finishes for Butler's women were turned in by junior Lissa Vogley (Naperville, Ill.), who placed sixth in the 1600 meter run (5:25.90), sophomore Danielle Ooten (New Castle), who was ninth in the 1600 (5:39.54), senior Megan Dexheimer (Ft. Wayne), who finished seventh in the 5000 meter run (20:35.99), junior Jennifer Sewall (Brookfield, Wis.), who was eighth in the triple jump (9.41 m.), and junior Amber Cox (Waldron), who came in seventh in the shot put (10.90 m.).
FIRST IMPRESSION: Newcomer Jillian Snyder became the first female track and field athlete at Butler to compete in the pole vault when the Bulldogs opened the 2002 campaign at the Purdue Open. And the freshman from Temperance, Mich., made the most of her debut. Competing in a 10-athlete field, Snyder placed second in the competition with a vault of 10 feet even. That effort was nearly a foot higher than the winning vault (and conference record) at last spring's Midwestern Collegiate Conference Championship!