King wins three events at Windsor Classic
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Sports Writer
Last weekend, Tameisha King had a rather disappointing Meyo Invitational. Although the sophomore All-American won the long jump, she jumped out of the blocks too early in both the 60-meter dash and the 60-meter hurdles and was disqualified, something Irish sprints coach John Millar attributed to anticipating the gun and losing concentration.
This weekend, a focused King made sure it didn't happen again.
King was nearly untouchable as she won the 60-meter dash, the 60-meter hurdles and the long jump en route to being named the Most Outstanding Female Athlete at the Windsor Classic.
"Obviously, she bounced back from the week before and had an excellent meet," said Irish sprints coach John Millar. "She showed what she's capable of. We worked on focusing more on the gun instead of anticipating the gun. Now, she has some confidence heading into next week."
King's 20 foot, 1/4 inch long jump, her best of the season, not only set a meet record, but it also was a provisional qualifying mark for the indoor NCAA championships.
"She just keeps going further and further every meet," said Irish field events coach Scott Winsor.
In the running events, King ran her fastest times in the preliminaries, not in the finals. In the 60-meter dash, she ran a blistering 7.66 seconds in the prelims and followed that up with a 7.69 in the finals. Meanwhile, in the 60-meter hurdles, King ran a season-best 8.56 in the prelims and won the event with a 8.62.
In fact, Millar wasn't even planning to run King in the final events. He initially wanted to have King run only in the prelims, but changed his mind after seeing her blow away the field.
"The way the schedule worked out, we didn't really feel she was overdoing it," Millar said. "And she wanted to run and to have a chance to win. My whole intention is to give her opportunities to prepare her for the big meets ahead."
Notre Dame completely dominated the 60-meter dash.
Freshman Ayesha Boyd was hot on the heels of King, finishing one hundredth of a second behind the All-American. Boyd's classmate Kristen Dodd took third in 7.88.
Meanwhile, in the 300-meter dash, sophomore Kymia Love took second place in 39.8 seconds, while Dodd finished only two-tenths of a second back, capturing third place in 40 seconds.
"I think the whole weekend was real positive," Millar said. "They all ran well, the didn't run PRs, but they performed well and competed well."
As they have all season long, the Irish dominated the pole vault competition.
Sophomore Jaime Volkmer won the event with a vault of 12 feet. Freshman Jill Van Weelden and junior Natalie Hallett both cleared 11-1, but Van Weelden placed higher because she had fewer misses. She finished tied for third, while Hallett took fifth. Senior Bethany Wilson took seventh place with a 10-6 vault.
"They're very consistent," Winsor said. "Sooner or later they're going to break out."
Winsor is excited by the potential of his vault crew at the Big East Championships. He feels all four vaulters can place.
"I think it's going to take 10-6 on a first attempt in order to place," he said. "And it's doable. Jaime thrives on competition — it motivates her and makes her better. I've had to calm Jill down a few times and let her talent takes over instead of her mind."
The main reason the Irish competed this weekend was so they could get a closer look at some athletes and try to achieve better qualifying performances for others.
One athlete in particular that the coaching staff had their eyes on was Ana Morales. They were trying to decide where to enter her in the Big East Championships.
Morales, who is recovering from a injury she sustained in the fall, raced to fourth place in the 1,000-meter run, finishing in 3:05.1.
"We're more or less leaning toward running her in the relays," Millar said. "She's coming back from an injury, and she's not fit enough to run. Looking at the performances, I don't think she'll be good enough to score. She raced well this weekend, but it's going to take her a little while to get back in the racing mode."
The other competitor who used the Windsor Classic as a Big East tune up was Betsy Lazerri. The sophomore pentathalete, who has been competing in one or two events per meet, competed in the 60-meter hurdles and the high jump. She took fifth in the high jump by clearing five feet.
The Big East Indoor Championships are scheduled to begin this Saturday in Syracuse, New York, and Irish coaches are already making preparations for the big meet.
"Hopefully, with a little rest and not trying to overdo it this week, they'll be really fired up," Millar said. "The Big East is a real strong conference in track and field. A lot of it's going to come down to how well the girls run and handle the pressure."
Winsor added, "If we finish in the top three, the ladies that we take will have done a very, very good job."
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 12, 2001
