Four Individual Champs Help BYU Win MWC Indoors

ALBQUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Feb. 27, 2010) – High jumping for the BYU women’s track and field team, Ada Robinson’s performance typified the team’s overall results at the MWC Indoor Championship on Saturday.

She was all alone at the top.

Robinson claimed her first championship with an indoor season best of 1.81 meters on the high jump and the Cougar track and field teams cruised to it’s second-straight team championship.

“We did well in a number of events,” said BYU head coach Craig Poole. “The girls competed well, it was fun.”

Robinson was one of four BYU athletes to win an event at the championships on Saturday. Cougar runners took the top four spots in the 800 meters in what was the most dominating performance of the day, led by defending national and conference champion Lacey Cramer’s first-place finish of 2:05.55, an MWC meet record.

Sophomore Nachelle Stewart, senior Angela Wagner and junior Nichole Clark finished in the next three spots, all under the provisional qualifying mark.

Senior Angela Wagner ran to a first-place finish in the mile at 4:55.87, winning the event for the third-straight year. Sophomore Sarah Edwards also finished under five minutes, taking fourth, while freshman Sarah Yingling and freshman MichaelAnne Laurent finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Senior Mindy McClurkin claimed the top spot in the 200 meters with a personal-best and provisional qualifying time, earning her first-ever MWC indoor individual title. McClurkin also earned her fastest time ever in the 60 meters earlier in the day, taking third place.

The women’s 4x400 relay team took second. Other top-five finishers included Diana Blauer at third in the high jump, Natalie Stewart at fourth in the 400 meters, Rachel Lange at fourth in the 3,000 meters, Amy Otis at fifth in the 60-meter hurdles and Porshe Giddings at fifth in the 200 meters.

The women will travel to South Bend, Indiana, for the Last Chance Invitational on Feb. 5-6, hoping to qualify before the NCAA Championships are contest the following weekend.