Michigan
Harold Silverston Invitational
Gasparella, Field Post Personal Bests at Silverston Invite
2/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's track and field team hosted its final home meet of the indoor season, as the Wolverines welcomed eight collegiate teams Saturday (Feb. 21) for the Harold Silverston Invitational in the U-M Indoor Track Building. In their final tuneup for the Big Ten Conference Indoor Championships, U-M claimed five event titles and had 25 athletes post season bests, with senior/junior Lynn Gasparella (New Hudson, Mich./South Lyon HS) and redshirt freshman Arianne Field (Kalamazoo, Mich./Hackett HS) setting personal-best marks in their respective events.
Fifth-year senior Carly Knazze (Southfield, Mich./Southfield HS) earned the first victory of the meet for the Maize and Blue when she posted a season-best time of 24.72 to win the 200-meter dash. Senior Vera Simms (Mililani, Hawaii/Mililani HS) also clocked in with a season-best time as she finished third in 25.02.
Senior/junior Anna Jones (Omaha, Neb./Marian HS) posted a victory in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:34.83, though she actually crossed the finish line in second place to teammate Theresa Feldkamp (Lorain, Ohio/Amherst Steele HS). Feldkamp, starting in box two of the two-turn staggered race was disqualified on the first lap of the race when she took too many consecutive steps on the line coming out of the turn two.
Junior/sophomore Stephanie Hirtle (Salmon Arm, B.C./Salmon Arm Senior HS) took home the third event victory for U-M when she posted a time of 2:13.58 to win the 800-meter run. Hirtle actually had a pack of Wolverines follow her across the finish line as U-M took the top seven spots in the race. With a third-place finish in the race, Field turned in a personal-best time of 2:14.91, which shattered her previous best mark of 2:20.69 set earlier this season at the Indiana Quad (Jan. 17).
Gasparella earned her personal-best mark with a vault of 11-11 3/5 for third place in the pole vault. Gasperalla's previous PR in the event was 11-7 3/4 set last year.
Earning the final two wins on the track for the Maize and Blue were fifth-year senior Robin Landfair (Okemos, Mich./Okemos HS) and redshirt freshman Laura Brosius (Saline, Mich./Saline HS). Landfair won the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 8.59, while Brosius won the 3,000-meter run in a season-best 10:08.39.
The Wolverines look to defend their 2002 and 2003 Big Ten Conference indoor team titles when they travel to Iowa City, Iowa, for the Big Ten Indoor Championships Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 28-29) at the University of Iowa. The pentathlon begins Saturday's competition with the 60-meter hurdles starting at 9 a.m. CST. Sunday's events are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. CST with the weight throw.
Contact: Gene Skidmore (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
