Colorado University Athletics
Coburn and Chobanian Garner CU Athlete of the Week Honors
April 22, 2010 | General, Track and Field
Coburn, a native of Crested Butte, Colo. (Crested Butte), recorded the fastest time in the steeplechase in the world for the 2010 season at the Mt. SAC Relays on Thursday night. It was an exciting race as Coburn recorded a time of 9 minutes, 56.29 seconds en route to a personal best. She shot out to the front of the pack at the start of the race and was in fourth after the first 200 meters. She moved up to second after the first full lap and would stay there for much of the rest of the race. Coburn was keeping a nice pace and looked comfortable during the race. She was a few meters behind Lennie Waite (unattached) and had the same distance between her and Japan's Yoshika Arai who was in third at the time. The trio came through the 1,600-meter mark with a time just over 5:10. Coburn started to lose a little ground to Waite, but she continued to maintain her composure and held strong. Just after entering the bell lap, Coburn hit the fifth-to-last barrier and stumbled slightly. She didn't seem to lose any ground and it did not seem to have an effect on her race as she kept Waite in her sight. Heading over the final water jump, Coburn looked to be picking up steam and in the last 100 meters it was obvious she was making a push to take the race. With just a few meters of the race remaining, Coburn surged past Waite and took the race and the title. Waite finished less than half a second behind Coburn (9:56.73). Prior to Coburn's sub-10 minute performance, Baylor's Erin Bedell owned the top time in the NCAA at 10:03.81. Shayla Houlihan had the best time by an American (and the top time in the world) at 10:03.26. Coburn's time makes her just the second Buff to finish the race in less than 10 minutes; improving on her previous personal record and U.S. Junior record of 10:06.21 by almost 10 seconds. The time is also the 19th best in CU history.
Chobanian, a San Diego, Calif. (Scripps Ranch) native, recorded a throw of 182 feet, 3 inches in the discus throw on Saturday at the Beach Invitational, placing him second overall. The mark was a personal best for Chobanian and tied Matt Lepsis for the 13th best throw in CU history. It is the farthest throw by at Buff in the discus since 1996. Chobanian became the fifth best performer in the event at CU and the mark is currently seventh in the Big 12. Prior to this performance, Chobanian's best throw was 166-04, thrown at the Tom Benich Classic on April 3.
Others nominated for this week's award were: Monica Milewski (women's tennis) and Justin Bardgett (men's golf).
Women's Tennis: Monica Milewski, Senior, Park Ridge, Ill.
Milewski come-from-behind victory over Texas Tech's Sandra Dynka 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 1 singles position was her 88th career win and 23rd triumph of the year. Milewski moves into sole possession of second place on the school's all-time wins list and her three-set victory improved her Big 12 Conference record to 6-0. Two days later, Milewski would fall to the nation's No. 5 ranked player, Baylor's Lenka Broosova, 6-3, 6-2. It was Milewski's first loss in nearly a month and only her second defeat in her last 13 singles matches.
Men's Golf: Justin Bardgett, Senior, St. Louis, Mo.
Bardgett led the Buffaloes to an 11th place finish in the Texas A&M Aggie Invitational, as he closed with a final round 3-under 69, CU's best round of the meet, to give him a 54-hole total of 218, or 2-over par. He tied for 29th individually for the tournament, which was held on the 7,146-yard, par-72 Traditions Golf Club course. He had five birdies, 11 pars and just two bogeys in the final round, continuing a remarkable comeback, both physically and mentally, after having to count a nine in each of his first two rounds which accounted for nine strokes over par. He had a team best 15 birdies with 30 pars for the meet, and after being 9-over after 22 holes, he played his last 32 at 7-under, scoring 11 birdies and 17 pars with only four bogeys.
Players Mentioned
