Junior heptathlete sets Mean Green record

[GreenBat]

Track & field: UNT’s Wesley qualifies for regionals

Junior heptathlete sets Mean Green record

08:45 AM CDT on Friday, April 8, 2005

AUSTIN — North Texas junior Deidra Wesley shattered her school record in the heptathlon and punched her ticket to the NCAA regional championships Thursday during the 78th annual Texas Relays.

Wesley posted a solid first day in the event and continued to roll in the final three events of the competition to finish in eighth place with 5,030 points. The regional provisional qualifying standard is 5,000 points for the event that features seven individual events.

Wesley posted solid performances in the long jump (5.3 meters) and the javelin 97-8 before capping her day by recording a time of 2:31.34 in the 800-meter run.

She also qualified for the regional meet in the high jump on the first day of the heptathlon when she tied the UNT record with a leap of 5-8.75.

Wesley’s high jump mark is tied for the 14th-best in the country this season. She has qualified for the regional meet in the high jump in three straight seasons.

Her mark in the high jump helped her shatter her own school record of 4,808 points in the heptathlon and become the first person in UNT history to qualify for the regional meet in the event.

Kory Williams finished ninth in the preliminaries of the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.28. The senior, who held the nation’s fourth fastest time heading into the meet, will run in Saturday’s event finals.

Sophomores Frank Ngeno and Josh Rogers finished in 19th and 22nd place in the 5,000-meter run. Ngeno finished in 15:57.58 while Rogers timed in at 16:31.62.

Texas’ Trey Hardee put the finishing touches on a solid all-around performance Thursday to win the decathlon, edging teammate Donovan Kilmartin.

Hardee placed first in the decathlon 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.41 seconds and immediately followed it with the second-best throw in the discus with 141 feet, 3 inches.

The Texas Relays continue today with Mean Green record holders Jessica Henderson and Ciji Brooks competing in the discus and the shot put.

[Mad Hatter]

Is it just me, or does heptathlete sound like some kind of medical condition?