Conference championship weekend south of the border has gotten off to a blazing start for Lauren Gale. The Colorado State junior laid down a blistering time of 23.15 seconds to take second place in her 200 metre semi-final. The time eclipses Farah Jacques Club record of 23.21 seconds set five years ago and also betters Ashley Purnell’s Club Under 23 mark of 23.28 seconds set at the 2002 World U20 Championships. Gale’s also broke the Colorado State record with her performance.
Running out of lane six, in the second of three semi-final heats, Gale shot out of the blocks, overtaking the two runners to her outside runners by the time they hit 60 metres. As she entered the straight-away, University of Nevada Las Vegas senior Cassondra Hall had a couple metres on Gale. Hall would hold to victory with Gale narrowing the gap as the pair hit the line.
In Gale’s other semi-final run, the 400 metres, the contest wasn’t remotely as close. As a three time conference champion indoors and outdoors as well as holding the top time in the conference, Gale’s victory was not a surprise. However, the authority with which she dominated the race was impressive. Running in lane seven, she made up the stagger within 15 steps and was nearly 15 metres clear of the field at the 150 metre mark. After hitting the 200 metre mark in 24.6 seconds, she would cross the line in 52.73, more than two and a half seconds up on second place.
Gale will have a busy final day with the finals of both the 200 (11:45pm eastern) and 400 (10:10pm eastern), but she is also slated to run on both the 4×100 and 4×400 metre relays for the Rams. You can watch all the action live on Mountain West TV.
At the Southland Conference Championships in Humble, Texas Tommy Nedow posted a top five performance in the hammer throw to garner four valuable points for his Southeastern Louisiana Lions. The Brockville native whipped the 16 pound hammer out to 54.61 metres Friday, just shy of his personal best set two weeks ago. Nedow will be back in action Saturday when he competes in the shot put where he will no doubt be looking repeat his victory from the indoor championship. He’ll wrap up his weekend with the discus throw Sunday.
Thursday night at the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in Raleigh, North Carolina, Syracuse sophomore Kevin Robertson ran a personal best 3:50.60 to finish 27th overall. Robertson, who focused on the steeplechase in high school, has made great strides in the 1500 metres this season, dropping nearly six seconds from his best.