Cards Travel to Nashville for Vanderbilt Invitational
April 16, 2004 | Men's Track and Field
April 16, 2004
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's track and field team travels to Nashville, Tenn., for this weekend's Vanderbilt Invitational. The invitational, which has nearly 600 entrants from 23 colleges and 11 track clubs, is free to the public. The meet starts Friday afternoon with field events and all distance races, then continues Saturday at 11:00 a.m. EDT. The Commodore track facility is located off Natchez Trace.
Last Time Out...Short-Handed Cardinals Place Fourth at Miami
Sophomore Arthur Turland won the discus with an NCAA Regional Qualifying mark to lead the Cardinals at the Miami Invitational last Saturday in Oxford, Ohio.
Louisville, which was short-handed due to injuries and illness, placed fourth in the 10-team event with 56.5 points.
Turland claimed his first individual title of the spring with a throw of 170 feet, one inch, marking his third regional qualifying throw of the year. He also placed fourth in the hammer (164-6) and sixth in the javelin (178-3) on the day.
Sophomore Brandon Cook and seniors Joe Swiderski and Troy Williams also had stellar performances in the throwing competitions. Cook was second in the discus with a mark of 162-3, while Swiderski was second in the hammer at 174-5 and fifth in the javelin at 178-8. Williams finished fifth in the discus (149-10) and 12th in the shot put (41-0.50).
Redshirt freshman Michael Jesse finished fourth in the 5000-meter run with a time of 14 minutes, 53.45 seconds, a season best. Sophomore Brian Hurst was ninth in the race with a personal-best time of 15:09.33.
In the 1500-meter run, sophomore Vernon Stephen ran a persona-best time of 4:00.91 to place sixth.
Senior Eric Cockley cleared a season-best height of 15-5 in the pole vault to finish tied for fifth, and redshirt freshman Antoine Wilson was sixth in the triple jump at 43-4.25, a season best.
Relay Teams Set Two School Record at Alabama Relays
The Cardinals set a pair of school records at the Alabama Relays in Tuscaloosa.
The 4x1500-meter relay team shattered the school record set in 1993 by nearly 30 seconds with a runner-up time of 16:14.90. The team consisted of senior Josh Gentry, sophomore Chris Davis, freshman Wes Seacat and redshirt freshman Michael Jesse.
The 4x200-meter relay team of redshirt freshman Aaron McAndrew, sophomore Jonathan Combs, senior Ryan Bridgeman and freshman Josh Jager broke the school mark with a seventh-place time of 1:27.27, topping the previous record set in 1976 by .07.
Turland Qualifies for NCAA Regional in Discus; Close in Two Others
Sophomore Arthur Turland improved his NCAA Mid-East Regional qualifying mark in the discus when he threw 174-8 at the Ben Brown Invitational in Fullerton, Calif.
Turland originally met the mark at the season-opening Carl Rossi Relays with a mark of 169-5 and again did it at the Miami Invitational (170-1). This marks the second straight year he has qualified in the event.
The Kincardine, Ontario, native is close to qualifying in the hammer throw and javelin as well, which would make him one of the few (if not the only) athletes to qualify in all three events. He is less than two meters off the hammer mark and three off the javelin.
Cook Qualifies for NCAA Regional in Discus
Sophomore Brandon Cook became the second Cardinal to qualify for the NCAA Regionals in the discus when he threw 174-4 at the Western Kentucky National City Invitational. Cook joins Arthur Turland as qualifiers.
Turland Sets School Record Javelin
Sophomore Arthur Turland bettered his own school record in the javelin with a throw of 194-10 at the WKU National City Invitational on April 3. He had previously set the school mark of 192-11 at the Ben Brown Invitational in his first attempt at competing in the javelin at the collegiate level. The mark shatters the school's previous mark by 10 feet.
Seacat Qualifies for USA Junior Nationals in 5000m
Freshman Wes Seacat qualified for the USA Junior Nationals with a 5000-meter time of 14:54.31 at the Ben Brown Invitational. Seacat placed third at the Conference USA Cross Country Championships this past fall.
Dennis Aiming for Olympic Team
Assistant coach James Dennis, a two-time All-American for the Cardinals in the late 1990's, won the discus with a throw of 193-7 at the Carl Rossi Relays.
Dennis is currently training to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials, and with his mark he hit the "B" qualifying standard, which places him on the list but does not necessarily guarantee him a spot.
Dennis, one of the top throwers in school history, still holds records in the discus and shot put, including the top 10 marks all-time in the discus.
During his highly decorated career, Dennis earned All-America status twice in the discus. In 1997, he finished fourth overall at the NCAA Championships and in 1999 he placed eighth. Dennis won the Conference USA title in the event in 1998 and placed 12th at the NCAA's.
In 1999, Dennis finished seventh in the discus at the USATF National Championships in Eugene, Ore. He was ranked eighth nationally by Track & Field News that year and qualified for the 2000 Olympic Trials, where he placed 12th. Dennis was the only collegian in his senior year to have qualified for the NCAA and U.S. National Championships in the discus three consecutive years.
