BOWLING GREEN, OH - Junior Amanda Kaverman (Sylvania, OH) and sophomore Jaime Gittens (Wallaceburg, Ontario) paced the University of Toledo track and field team to a fourth-place finish at the Bowling Green Challenge Saturday.

The Rockets scored 62 points in the 10-team event.  Central Michigan claimed the title with 135.5 points.

"I'm pleased and excited with our performance today," Kevin Hadsell, head coach, said. "We used this meet as a warm-up for the next two weeks. We didn't even treat this as a scored meet and we still beat three MAC teams and were competitive with Central and Miami."

Kaverman claimed a victory in the 400-meter dash (57.28), the first time she has competed in the event this season. She now has four wins in seven individual events.

"That was a great sign of her strength," Hadsell said. "That's not even her best event and she ran an excellent race on a tight track. I'm very excited about her performance."

Gittens tied for first in the triple jump with a mark of 38-09.50 to claim her first event victory of the year after taking second in the triple jump last week at Western Michigan. Gittens led a total of five triple jumpers who scored in the event, as junior Alexandra Afloari (Deva, Romania) took third, freshman Yuhong Fu (Beijing, China) was fourth, freshman Katie Bollin (Temperance, MI) was sixth and freshman Ksenia Kraitchkova (Sylvania, OH) was seventh.

Senior Michelle Sutherland (Maumee, OH) had a season-best effort in the high jump as she took third with a leap of 5-07.25. Freshman Alecia Zaper (Whitehouse, OH) took fifth in the high jump (5-01.25), while Afloari recorded a fourth-place showing in the long jump (17-09) to lead the Rockets in that event. Meanwhile, sophomore Julie Snyder (Celina, OH) took sixth in the long jump (17-04).

"Our jumps crew just gets better and better each meet," Hadsell said. "It's a deep and impressive group that will really help us at the MAC Championships."

Junior Danielle Jacoby (Carey, OH) picked up five points for the Rockets as she took fourth in the 600-meter run in a time of 1:40.18. Senior Dagna Sztykiel (Bytom, Poland) made her season-debut and placed sixth in the 3000-meter run (10:05.67). She led a host of distance runners who each set personal-best times in the 3000.

"For Dagna to set a PR in her first meet is great," Hadsell said. "We competed without our top-seven runners from cross country so we're very excited about the potential of this group."

The Rockets travel to Albany, NY to compete at the Great Dane Invitational on Friday.

Team Scores: 1. Central Michigan, 135.5. 2. Dayton, 129.5. 3. Miami, 115.5. 4. TOLEDO, 62. 5. Bowling Green, 49. 6. Ball State, 45. 7. Ohio, 42. 8. Oakland, 28. 9. Detroit, 15. 10. IPFW, 1.5.

Rocket Top Finishers: 5000 Meter Run - 8. Bornhorst (18:57.95); 400 Meter Dash - 1. Kaverman (57.28); 200 Meter Dash - 10. Woodrum (26.72); 600 Meter Run - 4. Jacoby (1:40.18); 3000 Meter Run - 6. Sztykiel (10:05.67); Weight Throw - 23. Nadolny (41-08.00); Long Jump - 4. Afloari (17-09.00); Pole Vault - 14. Handzlik (9-06.25); High Jump - 3. Sutherland (5-07.25); Triple Jump - T1. Gittens (38-09.50).

Contact: Scott Miles
scott.miles@utoledo.edu