Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Day 2
Coburn, Kipp Advance to NCAA Championship
May 27, 2011 | Track and Field
EUGENE, Ore. - Emma Coburn and Shalaya Kipp each earned tickets to represent the University of Colorado at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa this June.
Coburn won the first quarterfinal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9 minutes, 55.03 seconds, while Kipp took the third quarterfinal in 10:00.03 on Friday night at the NCAA West Preliminary Championship.
Coburn took the lead going around the first turn and never had to look back as she finished the first lap in 74 seconds. At that time she already established a 10-meter lead on the rest of the field and it was a lead that would only get bigger.
At the halfway point of the race Coburn had extended her lead to about 25 meters and showed no sign of letting up. She had 100 meters on her closest competition when she entered the bell lap and was able to cruise easily to the finish ahead of Montana's Kara DeWalt who finished in 10:12.19.
Kipp won her section of the steeplechase with the second fastest time of the meet and a season best at 10:00.03. She was in second after the first turn and looked to be running a steady pace with a pair of Oregon runners, Claire Michel and Melanie Thompson. After another lap SMU's Silje Fjortoft took the lead from the trio, but Kipp was right on her shoulder.
After four laps, Kipp looked to get some distance between her and the field and she started to pull ahead of the chase pack, but Michel and Thompson went with her. Kipp and Michel took off from Thompson a short while later to make it a two-person race. Kipp made sure she would get the victory as she gave it all she had down the homestretch, winning by 2.52 seconds.
The Buffs were also represented in the sprints by Joe Morris on Friday. Morris did not advance to the semifinals in the men's 100 after finishing the second heat of the quarterfinals in 10.68, 19th overall, but he came back less than two hours later to advance to the quarterfinals of the 200 after clocking a time of 21.28. The mark was the 12th fastest of the round. The quarterfinals are on Saturday at 3:50 p.m.
The NCAA Preliminaries are the first step to quality athletes for the NCAA Championship June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa. There are two championship preliminaries (west and east) this weekend. Both meets will conclude on Saturday. Live results are available at flashresults.com and a live stream of the track events is available at goducks.com.
NCAA WEST PRELIMINARY CHAMPIONSHIP
Eugene, Ore. (Hayward Field)
Track Events (CU Athletes Only)
Men's 100-Meters (Quarterfinals): (1. Rakieen Salaam, Oklahoma, 10.29) 19. Joe Morris, 10.68
Women's 800-Meters (Quarterfinals): (1. Stephanie Brown, Arkansas, 2:02.59) 18. Liz Tremblay, 2:07.76
Men's 200-Meters (First Round): (1. Tran Howell, Texas A&M, 20.88) 12. Joe Morris, 21.28
Women's Steeplechase (Quarterfinals): 1. Emma Coburn, 9:55.03; 2. Shalaya Kipp, 10:00.03
Men's Steeplechase (Quarterfinals): (1. Justin Tyner, Air Force, 8:44.86) 24. Aric Van Halen, 9:03.18
Players Mentioned
