April 7, 2001

Box Score

LAS VEGAS - Despite high winds, scattered rain, and a battered squad, the UNLV track and field team still managed to post a respectable fourth-place finish at the UNLV Invitational on Saturday.

The Rebels racked up 116 points and won two events. They had a chance to finish third and perhaps pull off another win, but UNLV head coach Karen Dennis scratched her squad's entry in the 4X400-meter relay, the day's final event, due to the poor weather conditions.

Regardless, the relay wouldn't have given the Rebels enough points to topple Eastern Michigan, who edged Southern Utah by just one-half of a point, 157.5-157. Northern Arizona, with the aid of the final relay performance, surpassed UNLV and finished third with 118.5.

Sophomore jumper Tianika Sharrieff kept her unbeaten streak alive with her third straight victory in the high jump. For the third time this season, she leapt over the 5-08.75 mark. That led a 1-2 UNLV finish, as Christine Spence followed Sharrieff, breaking the school freshman record with a jump of 5-07.00.

Nickeisha Charles ran to an easy victory in the 400 meters, clocking 56.43.

UNLV also got solid performances on the track from Patrice Harvey, who ran 14.25 in the 100-meter hurdles to finish second, Christine Spence, who added another second-place finish with a 1:01.73 mark in the 400-meter hurdles, Katie Barto, who finished fourth in the 800 meters, and Erin Dangerfield, who ran a season-best 26.36 to finish fifth in the 200.

Former UNLV star and 2000 Olympian Ayanna Hutchinson won the 100 meters, competing unattached and clocking 11.59.

In the field on Saturday, UNLV posted second- and fourth-place finishes in the triple jump. Tiffany Smith leapt 39-04 as the runner-up while Belisa Suarez cleared 37-11.25.

Elsewhere, Jennifer Gardner threw a season-best mark of 130-08.00 in the javelin to finish fourth overall and third among the university competitors. Nicole Martinez and Leah Johnson chipped in with fifth- and eighth-place finishes, respectively.

Johnson scored a second third-place finish for the Rebels in the discus, tossing 119-01, while Andrea Azzara threw a season-best 117-06 to finish fifth, and Charlotte Covington captured fourth place in the pole vault, clearing 10-06.

On the men's side, a deep Northern Arizona squad outdueled Southern Utah, 203.5-192.5. Utah's men scored 29 points.

The Rebels look to regroup in time for the San Diego Invitational next Saturday, April 14.