Phillips Leads Wolverines on First Day of Paddock Invite

Friday, May 10

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Michigan

Len Paddock Invitational (Day 1)

Phillips Leads Wolverines on First Day of Paddock Invite

5/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's track and field team competed on Ferry Field for the first time during the 2002 campaign and junior tri-captain April Phillips (Fraser, Mich./Fraser HS) led the way for the Wolverines with a team-best second-place finish in the hammer throw Friday afternoon (May 10) on the first day of the Len Paddock Invitational.

Phillips

Phillips, Michigan's school record holder in the hammer, took second place in the event with a toss of 183-3. The tri-captain held the Ferry Field record for a short while as her throw surpassed the two-year-old mark of 176-8 by Jen Brown from Central Michigan. However, Katy Craig of Ohio State bettered Phillips' mark with an NCAA provisional throw of 192-9 to break the Ferry Field record.

Sophomore Melissa Bickett (Akron, Ohio/Revere HS) followed Phillips' second-place finish by taking third in the event with a personal-best toss of 162-3. The throw broke her previous best mark by nearly five feet as her old mark stood at 157-4, which set on the first day of the 2001 Big Ten Conference Outdoor Championships. Bickett also set a personal best in the javelin as she marked 123-2 to lead the Maize and Blue with a sixth-place finish in the event.

Freshman Andrea Parker (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson HS) led all U-M runners on the first day of competition as she turned in a runner-up showing in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:56.13. Parker, who ran in the lead pack for the entire race, pulled away from third-place Sasha Gollish of Toronto on the final lap to earn the second-place finish. Junior Jeanne Spink (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea HS) lowered her personal best in the race as she clocked in at 10:12.54, bettering her previous by nine seconds (10:21.19).

Jane Martineau (Mt. Pleasant, Mich./Mt. Pleasant HS) and Lindsey Gallo (Freehold, N.J./Howell HS) placed third and fourth, respectively, in the 1,500 meters as the two Wolverines crossed the line within 1.5 seconds of each other. Martineau paced the Maize and Blue pair with a time of 4:40.16 and Gallo finished at 4:41.57.

The Wolverines return to Ferry Field Saturday (May 11) to host the final day of competition in Len Paddock Invitational. Phillips and Nicole DeNamur (Algoma, Wis./Algoma HS) lead the Wolverines into field-even