Emily Shiraki Highlights Day One of SCAC Championships with Win in the Pole Vault

Conway, AR - With day one complete, the Tigers face the daunting challenge of climbing up through the rankings of the SCAC track and field championships.

The Tiger women sit at fourth place behind Rhodes, Centre, and DePauw after the first day of competition. Highlighting the meet thus far was freshman Emily Shiraki who took the win in the pole vault. She bested her closest competitor, Sandy Henin of Rhodes, by over a foot, with a season best vault of 10-07 (3.23m).  This marks the first time that a Trinity woman has won the pole vault since 2006.

Junior All-American Caitlin Masse came in a close second to Rhodes’ Taylor Stephens in the 10,000m run, running 37:10. Stephens broke away the second half of the race before a late surge by Masse closed the gap to a only three seconds. This marks Masse’s second NCAA provisional qualifying time of the outdoor season. Stephens and Masse ran the second and third fastest times in SCAC history, mere seconds behind Trinity’s own Elizabeth Eder, who set the conference record just last year.

Other highlights on the women’s side included sophomore Corey Callahan finishing fourth in the long jump (5.33m). Senior Nicole Fisk, Kimberly Simmons, Corey Callahan, and Tolly St.Claire all advance to tomorrow’s finals in their respective events.

The men’s team trails four rivals in points after day one. DePauw has the current lead with 57 points followed closely by Centre, Rhodes, and Colorado College.  The men’s pole vault featured a strong performance from the Tiger duo of Kevin Martin and Ryan Gill. Martin came in fourth (11-11), while Gill vaulted to a strong sixth place (9-11) finish. Also scoring points for the Tigers were  freshman Justin Kah placing fifth in the shot put (13.72m) in front of teammate Justin Campbell, who came in sixth (12.97m) in the event. Freshman Brian Coffman was seeded eighth in the long jump but finished two places higher with a new season best of 6.48 meters. Junior James Woolley ran the 10000m for the Trinity men, and finished seventh with a time of 34:39. Nigel Robinson, Riley Walker, James Fletcher, and Brennen Peters will advance to the finals with marks run during today’s prelims.

The men’s team will rely heavily on tomorrow’s mid-distance and distance events. The Tigers have the top mark in nearly all of the those events.

Day One Results