The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
C-USA Indoor Championships
Blazers Wrap Up C-USA Track Championships
3/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
March 1, 2014
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- UAB's Elinor Kirk won meet high point honors for the second consecutive year as the Blazers wrapped up a successful weekend of competition Saturday at the Conference USA Track and Field Championships.
The Blazers placed third as a team in the two-day meet at the Birmingham CrossPlex, narrowly missing a runner-up finish and not far off the winning total. UAB finished with 71.50 points, trailing only champion East Carolina (88) and UTSA (73).
"When you look at the results and see that we finished third and had six all-conference performers and had the high point scorer, it was a great team effort and the performance overall was awesome," head coach Kurt Thomassaid. "It was probably the most balanced performance in all of our events as a team that we have ever had, and that's hard for a lot of teams to say.
"It's always a little disappointing when you come up short in some expectations, but it's always fun to be in the conversation at the end than not be."
UAB's third place finish equaled the performance from a year ago, but Thomas said this year's team effort was special.
"I feel like it's more satisfying (this year), because it was a total team effort," Thomas said. "I haven't calculated the scores from all the event areas, but they all contributed and contributed really good points.
"Last year, the distance squad really carried us for 70 points and then we kicked in some at the end, so I think it's more satisfying as a team. Team points are team points, but I think everyone contributed this year and it gives everyone a sense of accomplishment."
The Blazers picked up Saturday points from several of their athletes, but it was Kirk who again highlighted UAB's performance with a remarkable effort. After winning the 5,000-meter run Friday, the graduate student from Swansea, Wales came back to win both the mile run and the 3,000 on Saturday.
She not only won both races Saturday that she ran but she set both C-USA and CrossPlex records in each event., finishing at 4:41.10 in the mile and with a time of 9:10.40 in the 3,000. Kirk won the 3,000 by more than 30 seconds.
That Kirk won three events in less than 24 hours time was amazing in itself, but Thomas said it's what they train for.
"The training that Coach (Tony) Houchin takes them through sets it all up," Thomas said. "She doesn't race a lot. They train a lot to be able to do this. They don't run this many races often, so it's special for an indoor meet. Eli is fit enough to handle it all and talented enough to do it all. It was a special performance."
Kirk was not the only Blazer to turn in a standout performance on Saturday. Senior Kyana Whitefinished second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 54.91. East Carolina's Aiesha Goggins won the race at 54.50.
Sarah Livett joined Kirk as a scorer in the 3,000 as the freshman from Wales was sixth at 9:48.36. Kate Brownplaced 10th for UAB in the event at 9:54.14.
Meanwhile, the Blazers had two scorers in the 60-meter dash. Shakima Knox, who came into Saturday's with the fastest qualifying time from a day earlier, finished fifth with a time of 7.52 while teammate Alexis Bateswas eighth at 7.55. Charlotte's Joann Blakney was the 60 champion at 7.35.
Angel Watsonplaced sixth in the 200-meter dash, crossing the finish line at 24.48. ECU's Tania Minkins was the winner at 23.75.
In field events, Neal Tisher, a transfer from Ole Miss and a first-year med student at UAB, took third in the pole vault at 12-11 1/2.
UAB closed out the meet with a sixth place finish in the 4x400-meter relay as the foursome of Watson, Shelby Barker, Akira McSwain and White was clocked at 3:46.58.
