Spring Sports Update

Freshman sensation, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Most Outstanding Performer and a member of the NCAA All-Tournament Team, Marion Singleton headlined the Lady Hawks selections with a third team nod. Singleton earned two other All-Tournament Team honors this season, won the doubles title at the FDU Holiday Jamboree and averaged just under a 196 for the year, a team high. Her high game of the season was a 257.

Fellow freshman Michelle Wallace and sophomore standout Laura Zanrucha also earned Honorable Mention All American honors. Wallace was an All-Tournament Team member at the Capital Classic and, along with Singleton, won the doubles title at the FDU Holiday Jamboree and averaged just under 191 for the 2006-2007 year and had a high game of 248.

Zanrucha also put together a nice year, averaging a 191.30 for the year and claimed MVP honors at the Le Tiger Classic and rolled a game as high as 257 for the year.

The three were an integral part of the Hawks season that saw them claim their second straight MEAC title and their fourth bid in a row to the NCAA Championships where they came home as runner-up to the National Champions, Vanderbilt.

Three all-Americans, one national champ at NCAA Track and Field championships
With her final jump of the afternoon Saturday, talented Hampton University track star Yvette Lewis went from fourth place to a national champion in the triple jump at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Sacramento. 

Lewis, who a day earlier earned all-American honors with an eighth place finish (13.07) in the 100-meter hurdles, jumped 45-00.50 to overtake Stanford's Erica McLain (44-10.25) for first place.

"Heading into my final jump all I could think about was not finishing fourth like I did last year," said Lewis.  "I hadn't won since the 2006 indoor championships so I just tried to put everything together on my final attempt and things worked out."

In what has become a great rivalry with McLain, Lewis was able to rebound from her second place finish at the indoor championships when the Stanford junior won the event and ended Lewis' hopes of defending her 2006 national indoor triple jump title.

With her victory on Saturday Lewis becomes Hampton's first two-time national champion in track & field and the university's only five-time All-American (4 - triple jump, 1 _ 100-meter hurdles).

Lewis had earned the outstanding performer honors at the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference outdoor championships for the second straight year by recording 50.5 points. She broke her own record in the triple jump with her 13.34m (43-09.25 ft.) leap. She had previously set the mark with a 13.26m (43-06 ft.) at last year's outdoor championship.

Up next for Lewis is the AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships which begin on June 20 in Indianapolis, where she'll compete in the triple jump and the 100-meter hurdles. Last year she placed third in the triple jump, while reaching the semifinals of the hurdles where she was a tenth-of-a-second shy of advancing to the finals. This year she hopes to improve upon those performances and qualify for the World Championships.

Earning all-American honors on the men's side was Hampton hurdler Andrew Peresta, who battled his way to a sixth place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 50.85. His finish gives the Pirates an all-American in the event for the second consecutive year after Terry Thornton garnered the honor in 2006.

Also breaking thru to earn all-American honors was Maryland-Eastern Shore shot putter Kimani Kirton.

After crushing his own a school record in the qualifying round, Kirton had a best throw of 18.88m (61'11.5") to finish eighth overall in Saturday's finals of the shot put. The MEAC Outdoor champion had advanced to the finals after placing seventh overall in the 26-man field.

© 2007 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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