May 16, 2009

Complete Results
Big Ten Photo Gallery

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The 2009 Michigan State track & field program wrapped up day two of the Big Ten Outdoor Championships in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday as both Nicole Bush (Wyoming, Mich.) and Lonnie Pugh (Grosse Ile, Mich.) took home Big Ten titles in their respective events. In all, the Spartan men currently stand in fourth place with 26 points while the women rank seventh with 24 total points. Competition, which will feature finals of the majority of the track events, will resume tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.

"I thought our team did a great job of just coming out and performing, and across the board we are really competing well. We are having a really good meet on both sides and we had a very strong presence at the meet today," director of track & field Walt Drenth said. "We started well yesterday and our kids got a chance to watch people really compete and that set the precedent for today. After watching Michelle Mercer, who was unseeded, battle for eighth place in the 10,000m run last night, it really set the tone for the entire weekend for us. The most important thing is to get a lot of people through to the finals and we did that today."

Bush, who is running at her final Big Ten Championship, came into the event as the nation's top steeplechase runner and she did not disappoint in the event. Bush ran away from the field, winning the event by 17 seconds with a time of 9:41.87, a new Big Ten and Jesse Owens Stadium record, and a regional qualifying mark. It is also her second-fastest time of the season, just behind her time of 9:39.38, which currently ranks second in the world this year. Her Big Ten title earned the women 10 points in the team competition. Bush becomes the first Spartan on the women's side to claim a Big Ten championship since Taren James took home the triple jump title in 2006. Senior Sarah Price (Mankato, Minn.) earned fifth place in the event, tallying four points for the women.

Also scoring on the day for the men was sophomore Spencer Beatty (Harbor Springs, Mich.), who placed fifth in the men's 3,000m steeplechase after completing the race in 9:10.59. His fifth-place nod earned the Spartan men four points. Junior Patrick Grosskopf (Corruna, Mich.) earned eighth in the event with a personal-best time of 9:11.37, earning an additional team point for the men.

Freshman Cliff Miller (Ann Arbor, Mich.), who was in fourth place in the decathlon after day one, finished fourth with a personal-best 6,903 points, an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. He was the only freshman to finish in the top 10 and he earned five total points for the Spartan men.

Sophomore Ashley Lawrence (Troy, Mich.) had another strong performance in the shot put, earning four points for the Spartans with a fifth-place finish. Lawrence tossed a regional qualifying mark of 15.13m (49-7 ¾) in the event, rounding out the scorers on the day for MSU.

In addition, the Spartans saw student-athletes in 12 different events, along with both the men's and women's 4x100m relay teams, qualify for tomorrow's event finals. Sophomore Charelise Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) qualified in both the 100m dash and 200m dash for the women. Davis posted a regional qualifying mark and personal-best time of 23.92 in the 200m dash and ran 11.79 in the 100m, qualifying her for the finals in both events.

Yury Ratomski (Novi, Mich.) highlighted the qualifiers for the men in the short sprints, posting a time of 21.37 in the 200m dash. The men saw two additional sprinters - Jeremy Orr (Detroit, Mich.) and Michael Smoot (Trenton, Mich.) - qualify in the 400m dash. Orr ran a regional qualifying time of 46.78 to finish first in his heat while Smoot ran 47.88 in his heat, qualifying him for tomorrow's finals.

Leah Elenbaas (Greenville, Mich.), Lisa Senakiewich (Davison, Mich.) and Emily MacLeod (Cincinnati, Ohio) highlighted the event finalists for the women in the middle distance events. Elenbaas snuck into the 800m run finals with a time of 2:11.64, earning the final spot in tomorrow's finals. Both Senakiewich and MacLeod qualified in the 1,500m run with times of 4:24.33 and 4:26.67, respectively. Senakiewich placed second overall in the preliminary race, setting her up to score plenty of points for the Spartans tomorrow.

Shane Knoll (Warren, Mich.) and Bill Peterson (Lake Orion, Mich.) each qualified for the men's 1,500m run finals tomorrow. Knoll placed fifth in the preliminary heat with a time of 3:50.45 while Peterson placed 11th with a time of 3:53.79.

The final two qualifiers on the day for MSU came in the hurdle events as both Shane Wells (Romulus, Mich.) and Dennis Fortson (Ann Arbor, Mich.) shined for the Spartans. Wells finished sixth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.75, earning him a spot in tomorrow's finals. Fortson, who came in unseeded in the 400m hurdles, clocked in at 54.13, earning the eighth spot in the event and a spot in the finals.

Competition will resume tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. with the men's pole vault finals. For a complete recap, check back with www.msuspartans.com.