JOE HASENSTAB | Staff Reporter
The Butler track and field team is coming off two successful meets over the weekend. A small part of the team went to California and competed in the Stanford Invitational, while the rest of the team competed at Miami of Ohio University.
Seniors Kirsty Legg and Tom Anderson, juniors Tom Curr and Katie Good, and sophomore Erik Peterson competed at Stanford.
Legg and Curr competed in the 1,500-meter race. Legg won her section of the race, finishing in 4:24.28. Curr finished 11th in his with a time of 3:48.73.
The other three athletes all competed in the 10,000-meter run. For Peterson and Good, it was their first time competing in the event, but their times were no indication.
Good finished with the second-best time in school history with a 34:13.26 finish. Fifth-year senior Katie Clark, who did not compete in this meet, holds the current school record for this event.
Good said it is nice to see her teammates perform so well because it is a testament to their work ethic.
“You know how hard they’ve trained, and they’ve put in all the hard work, so it’s nice to see it and makes it all pay off,” Good said.
Peterson finished 11th in his section of the 10,000-meter and set a school record for best time in the event in a debut. He ran a 29:20.
Last week, coach Matt Roe said that one of the main goals for the runners competing in the 10,000-meter race was to attain times that will qualify them for the first round of the NCAA regional meet. Peterson met that goal.
The Stanford Invitational featured a high-level competition, including some professional athletes. Roe said that was another reason for making the trip to California.
“That’s the reason we flew out there, to get that opportunity and hopefully get that type of result, especially in running 10,000s,” Roe said. “You don’t get to run those very often, so it’s pretty pivotal that you get it right, because you can’t just come back the next week and run one, at least not effectively.”
Butler also competed well at Miami of Ohio. Freshman Colleen Weatherford won the first event of her collegiate career by placing first in the women’s 1,500-meter race with a time of 4:39.55. Fellow freshman Kristen Seiler came in about seven seconds after Weatherford and finished 10th.
Junior James Martin won the men’s 5,000-meter. He finished in 14:48.13.
Junior Nicole Hudec placed third in both the long jump and the 100-meter dash.
Seniors Dominique Stephens and Nigel Spears both placed well in their events. Stephens got second in the shot put, third in discus and fifth in the hammer throw. Spears placed fourth in the long jump.
Next weekend, the team will compete at the University of Illinois in the Illinois Twilight meet, which will be held at night. Roe said he is looking forward to the meet.
“I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere,” Roe said. “It’s the first time we’ve been to the meet, and they just starting hosting this Twilight meet. I think the competition is going to be really good. Running at night, we find, is advantageous. And I think it will be an exciting atmosphere. We expect strong results across the board.”
