Tulane Track & Field Set Team and Personal Bests in Split Meets
With the Green Wave split between the David Hemery Valentine Invitational and the Music City Challenge, the Tulane indoor track and field program closed both events with multiple outstanding performances. Five Wave athletes earned top-10 program marks with five more adding new personal-best results.
Wave Does Well in Bean Town
It was a day for the record books at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center in the final day of the David Hemery Valentine Invitational as five Wave athletes entered the program's top 10 for their respective events. Elena Liano-Rengel delivered a 4:45.74 in the mile, placing 20th as she set the sixth-best time in program history. Compiling accomplishments, her time is the new Spanish U23 women's indoor mile record. In the 3,000 meters, Blezzin Kimutai delivered a 9:22.27 to fall short of her personal best, 9:21.66, which is the fourth-best time in program history. Freshman Dana Rojas Vazquez ran a 9:34.45 to place 73rd, notching the seventh-best mark in program history. A pair of entries to the program's top 10 occurred in the 5,000 meters with Alex Sharp and Haley Harper clocking in at third and fourth all-time, respectively. Sharp ran a 16:38.09 to place 71st, and Harper was 83rd with a time of 16:47.90. Alongside the record-book performances, three more athletes set new personal bests. In the 800 meters, Maria Alduan ran a 2:12.83 to place 50th and set a new personal best. Reese Ragland just barely eclipsed her personal best in the mile with a time of 4:48.10. Allison Hall topped her best mark in the 3,000 meters with a 9:42.93.
More Bests in Tennessee
At the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility Saturday, Tulane saw a pair of personal bests on the final day of the Music City Challenge. Nahema Dumonteil Cabanas placed second in the 400 meters with a time of 56.68, a new personal best. She was not far behind the winner, Savannah Nuetzel of Lipscomb and her mark of 56.43. In the pole vault invite, Presley Wolfe delivered a 4.05 to place fourth overall. Her mark ties her personal best, which also ties for the sixth-best tally in program history. Zaria Parker ran in the semifinals of 60 meters after qualifying in yesterday's prelims. With a time of 7.63, she placed 12th and failed to advance to the finals.
The Green Wave will get one final tune-up next week before the American Conference Indoor Championship when the team participates in the LSU Twilight on Friday, February 20. After the one-day meet, Tulane sets its sights on defending its women's indoor conference title.
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.