Published: May 11, 2008 02:08 am            

A memorable day for Bass

By Gene Schallenberg

sports@itemonline.com



Looking to put himself in prime position for today’s 400-meter hurdles finals, Sam Houston State junior Lane Dennis set the pace to take the top time in the running preliminaries at the Southland Conference Track and Field Championships on Saturday at the York Track and Field Complex at Bowers Stadium.

Dennis ran a solid race and cruised into the finals with a time of 50.87 seconds. Sophomore Adlus Wiltz of Southeastern Louisiana trailed just behind Dennis with a 50.98 posting.

“I felt confident coming in,” Dennis said. “I’m shooting for a 49 tomorrow. The guy from Southeastern Louisiana; I wasn’t shocked by him. He was pretty good last year. He didn’t do well in the finals, but he was good in the prelims. I raced him last year in the prelims and he was good.”

But Dennis isn’t looking past the other finalists just yet. He knows he still has to go out and run a good race in order to defend his SLC 400-hurdles crown.

“I’m not surprised. I don’t underestimate anybody. I just keep God first and go out there and get it.” Dennis added. “I’m going to go home and get a lot of rest and concentrate on tomorrow.

“I’m not taking it lightly on anybody. If the Atlanta Hawks can come out and force a game seven and the New England Patriots can get beat, then I know anything can happen. I need to go out and execute my race. I want them to remember me. I respect them, but I’m going out there to win”

SHSU senior shot putter Kendall Bass had a memorable day. In her last Southland Conference meet, Bass wanted to make the most of it. She was sitting in fourth place with a distance of 13.09 meters with just one attempt left.

Bass stepped into the circle and launched the shot 13.58, which allowed her to climb into first place and capture the gold medal after Northwestern State’s Trecey Rew fouled on her last attempt to earn valuable points for the Bearkat women, who are looking to win the overall team championship.

Sam Houston is currently in third place with 58 points heading into the final day, which beings this afternoon with field events at 1 p.m. followed by the running finals at 5 p.m. Stephen F. Austin leads the meet with 73.33 points, while Texas State is second (63).

“With the favorite (Rew) not having her best day, it gave me an opportunity. I kind of felt like I got lucky,” Bass said.

Bearkats sophomore Jessica Fisher also had a good showing and set herself up pretty well in the 100- and 200-meter dash finals today. She won both races at the outdoor championships last season in Nacogdoches.

Having already qualified for the NCAA regionals, Fisher finished second in both the 100 prelims with a time of 11.62 seconds and in the 200 (23.8). Texas-Arlington’s Jasmine Walls (11.58 in 100, 23.41 in 200) was the top qualifier in both events.

“I came in with a whole lot of confidence,” Fisher said. “We’ll see what tomorrow brings. I’m feeling great. I feel like I’m going to keep being the champion. It’s not as easy as it was last year, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work on my part.”

Looking to repeat as the 400-meter dash champion, Sam Houston’s Michael Courtney took a big step toward that with a top time of 46.67 in the preliminary round.

“I just wanted to come out here in the preliminaries and win my heat,” Courtney said. “I’m glad that I was able to do that today. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll be able to defend the 400 championship.”

Freshman Dess Meek was a double medalist for the Bearkats on Saturday. After taking third place in the long jump, she won the silver medal after tying with McNeese State’s Lindsay Brooks in the high jump, clearing 1.7 meters. Texas State’s Valerie Hancock won the gold after jumping 1.75 meters.

“It was a semi-decent day,” a frustrated Meek said after the high jump competition ended. “I always want first. I guess I can take it in that it’s my freshman year and you can’t win everything. I guess I’m just a bad sore-loser.

“I’ve jumped that height before, but I guess it just wasn’t my day.”

The Bearkats had 13 other men and women qualify for today’s running finals.

In the men’s 1,500-meter run, Josh Hawkins and Taylor Ray qualified with times of 3:58.45 and 4:01.41, respectively. Scottie Jones had the fourth-best time and John Thomas had the sixth as both look to medal in the men’s 110-meter hurdles.

Alongside Dennis, Jay Newman will run in the men’s 400-meter hurdles and Kevin Houston qualified for the finals in the 200-meter dash.

On the women’s side, Jordan Heggie, Tiana Lee and Tywanisha Spiller qualified for the finals in the women’s 1,500-meter run. Tiffany Singleton and Desiree Taylor qualified for the 400-meter dash, with Singleton carrying in the preliminary’s best time.

Lee, Dakota Stewart and Brittany Henson look to earn some points for the women’s team, as all three bring times in the top five in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.

Rounding out Saturday was seniors Allison Ferries and Whitney Rister who took first and second place in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, respectively. Ferries won the gold with a personal-best of 11:14.58 and Rister won the silver with a time of 11:14.73.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.