Tulane School Records Set at Track & Field Events
The first day of split competition for the Tulane track and field program was a record-breaking one as seven Green Wave athletes etched their names into the Tulane indoor record book Friday between the John Thomas Terrier Invite and the PNC Lenny Lyles Invitational. Blezzin Kimutai highlighted the successful day by demolishing her own program record in the 5,000 meters by 27 seconds.
Doing Well in Beantown
At Boston University’s Track and Tennis Center, Blezzin Kimutai shined by breaking her own program record in the 5,000 meters. Running in the invitational event, Kimutai placed eighth with her time of 16:00.94, shattering Tulane’s indoor record that she set at last season’s American Indoor Championship (16:27.59). In the open 5,000 meters, Allison Hall joined her in the program’s top 10, putting forth a time of 16:56.83 to rank fifth all-time at Tulane.
Also in Boston, Petra Dos Santos came close to joining Kimutai with a record-setting time, but she just fell short in the 3,000 meters with a mark of 9:19.98. The program record is 9:17.80, but Dos Santos still recorded the second-best time in program history. Behind her, Alex Sharp and Haley Harper entered the program’s top 10 with their respective times to solidify a trio of Wave runners entering the record book. Sharp clocked a 9:36.51 with Harper posting a 9:37.16 as they checked in at ninth and 10th, respectively, in the program’s top 10.
Meanwhile, in Louisville...
At the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center in Louisville, Sofie Groeninger excelled in the pentathlon with 3,774 total points to place fourth. It is the fifth-highest point total in the pentathlon in program history. Groeninger placed seventh in each of the 60 meter hurdles (9.15), high jump (1.60m), and long jump (5.46m). She won the shot put with a mark of 13.98 meters, the sixth-best performance in program history. This bested her mark from two weeks ago in the Vanderbilt Invitational that was also sixth at the time, and Groeninger now owns each of the sixth, seventh, and eighth spots in Tulane’s shot put top 10. She secured her overall fourth-place result in the 800 meters with a time of 2:31.2h, a new personal best.
For another highlight in Louisville, Cara Salsberry notched a 17.84 meters in the weight throw to place 13th. The distance is a new best at Tulane and the second-best mark in program history. This is the second consecutive event in which Salsberry has notched the second-highest tally in school history.
Competition continues Saturday in each location as Tulane will look to build on Friday’s momentum and finish the weekend strong.
Portions Courtesy Tulane Athletics
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.