May 13, 2002
New Orleans, La. - The Western Kentucky men's track team continued its strong performance on the final day of the Sun Belt Outdoor Track and Field Championships Sunday finishing in third place, the highest finish ever for a Hilltopper team.
The Hilltoppers compiled 127.75 points over the three-day event, while North Texas put up 148.25 to win the men's championship, with Louisiana-Lafayette finishing with 146.5 points to finish second. Throwers Ryan Thomas (So., Orchard Park, N.Y.) and Raigo Toompuu (Fr., Haapsalu, Estonia) got the Hilltoppers off to a strong start on Sunday finishing second and third, respectively, in the hammer throw with distances of 153-feet, 3-inches and 141-feet, 10-inches. Eigo Siimu (Fr., Vijandi, Estonia) continued the Hilltopper success in field events with a second-place finish in the javelin, throwing 200-feet, 6-inches. Siimu also tied for second in the pole vault with a height of 15-feet, 5.75-inches. Justin Miller (Jr., Campbellsville, Ky.) began the night session of the meet placing third in the 400-meter dash in 47.39 seconds. After placing third in the long jump on Saturday, Jonathon Brown (So., Morganfield, Ky.) ran the 100-meter dash in 10.49 seconds on Sunday to place second. He also finished second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 20.79 second, just .02 seconds behind the winner. Enda Grandfield (So., Kerry, Ireland) wrapped up the meet by winning the 5,000-meter run in a time of 14:37.91, more than three seconds better than second place. It was Grandfield's second win of the meet as he also took first place in the 10,000-meter run on Friday night.
In the women's meet, Jill Shannon (Fr., Jordantown, Northern Ireland) placed second in the 1,500-meter run in a time of 4:39.28, with Cara Nichols (Fr., Bowling Green, Ky.) placing fourth in the event in 4:42.05. Olga Cronin (Jr., Cork, Ireland) won the 5,000-meter run in a time of 17:35.14, followed in second by Shannon who posted a time of 17:37.39. The Lady Toppers posted 63.5 points in the team scoring, with New Mexico State winning the women's title with 138 points.
-- WKU --
