Jan. 14, 2010
LAS VEGAS - Following two years of recruiting and building the UNLV track and field team, head coach Yvonne Scott believes that year three of her tenure should reap the benefits of those efforts, as the Rebels will look to make a climb in the Mountain West Conference in 2010. In her two seasons at the helm, Scott has mentored student-athletes who have set three school records, been named All-MWC 12 times, while the 4x100 meter relay team advanced to the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships and two individuals advanced to the 2009 national outdoor meet.
And now Scott has begun to assemble the necessary depth in all events to score points across the board and have the Rebels climbing in the standings come the conference championship meets.
"Our goal is to climb in our overall conference finish and to be in the top half," Scott said. "We have the talent and the depth to make that happen this year. As we continue to get stronger our ultimate goal is to be contenders for conference championships."
Scott and her assistants Tamara Ards and Tony Houchin welcome back 23 student-athletes, including a pair of school record breakers in Amanda Bingson and Candise Maxwell. That group will be joined by 19 newcomers, several of which will be expected to step in and contribute right away in their rookie season with the Rebels.
"We have a great group of athletes this year and we are going into the season with the goal to qualify athletes to the NCAA West Regional meet," Scott said. "Hopefully from there, several of them them will then advance to the NCAA championships. Every year our goal is to be better than the year before and we will continue to work towards that."
REBELS ON THE TRACK
The strength of this year's Rebel squad will once again be the sprint group, which also includes the hurdlers, and the star should be Maxwell. The former junior-college transfer scored points at both the indoor and outdoor league meets, and she broke the school record in the indoor 60-meter hurdles with a blistering 8.42 at the MWC championships. The super senior will be looking to once again qualify for the NCAA Outdoor championships, with the intent of scoring points at this year's national meet.
Shahnel Woodley should be a factor in both the 100 and 200 meters this year after cruising to fifth-place finishes in both events last year at the MWC championships. Chauncey David-Jacobs, a senior who missed last year due to an injury, should be a point scorer in the sprints, as should freshman Emily Blok. Senior sprinter De'Lace Kelley, and sophomores Zadia Bryant and Lindsay Roach could all run legs on relay teams as well.
Another point scorer for the Rebels will be sophomore hurdler Christine Lowe, who advanced to the NCAA West Regional as a freshman in the 400-meter hurdles. Senior hurdlers Rachael Long and Meia Tezeno, as well as junior Allyson Stone, could also emerge as contributors for the Scarlet and Gray in 2010.
"We will have a strong sprints and hurdles group with several strong conference scorers returning," Scott said. "We will have several options for the relay teams and the competition will be good among the team."
The distance runners will be have a lot of new faces on the track and Scott said she will look to the leadership of senior Bailey Kuestermeyer in both the 5k and 10k this season. Kuestermeyer, a multi-sport athlete who also has run cross country and competed on the swim team for the Rebels, finished in the top 10 in the 1,500 meters at last year's MWC Outdoor championships. Junior college transfer Sarah Muniz will compete in the steeplechase while a group of freshmen that includes Courtney Allen, Ali Motor, Lauren Petersen and Kelsey Williams will have an impact in the middle-distance events.
"With so many newcomers we are going to look to Bailey Kuestermeyer for leadership," Scott said. "There should be a lot of depth in the middle and long distance events, and that group should improve as the season goes on."
REBELS IN THE FIELD
With three more years of eligibility remaining, Bingson figures to rewrite a lot of the Rebel throwing records and the Las Vegas native already has one to her credit after shattering the hammer throw mark at the league championships. LaShante' Ellison and Danielle Rios return to the throws group, as does Leah Maurer, who threw the javelin last year and is also a member of the Rebel volleyball team. A rookie to follow this year is freshman Adrianna Oliva, who should make an immediate impact in both the shot put and discus.
"Amanda Bingson will be the one to watch in the hammer," Scott said. "We are hoping to get more points out of this group as we work toward balancing our team."
Sophomore jumper Deja Edwards looked strong in fall work outs and should score points for the Rebels in the long and triple jumps this season, and could move her way into the top 10 at the conference meets. Senior multi-event athlete Talyah Polee will compete in the long jump and heptathlon and should score points in both events, while junior college transfer Davina Collins could step in right away and perform well.
"Deja Edwards has looked very good heading into the season and Talyah will have the chance to score points in a couple events," Scott said. "We will use our best athletes to score as many points as possible and could use them in the heptathlon."
REBEL SCHEDULE
UNLV will compete in four regular-season indoor meets and up to nine outdoor meets, including opening up the outdoor slate by hosting the UNLV Track Classic on March 6 at Myron Partridge Stadium and Sheila Tarr-Smith Field. The MWC Indoor Championships are Feb. 26-27 in Albuquerque, N.M., and the league will be back there for the outdoor meet on May 12-15. The NCAA Indoor Championships are Feb. 26-27 in Fayetteville, AR, and the NCAA Outdoor Championships are June 9-12 in Eugene, OR.
"Indoors we are traveling to competitions that will best prepare our team for their performance at conference and hopefully national championship," Scott said. "As for the outdoor schedule, we scheduled some competitions in there that would excite and challenge the athletes, including USC in March and Arizona State in April. These should be highly competitive opportunities for our team."
