Rebecca Neville in Ninth After First Four Heptathlon Events
March 31, 2010
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AUSTIN, Texas –
Kansas freshman Rebecca Neville completed four of her seven total events in the women’s heptathlon Wednesday at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. After the first day of competition, Neville accumulated 3,064 total points, which put her in ninth place among a field of 21 multi-event athletes, including the defending NCAA heptathlon champion, Brianne Theisen of Oregon.
Neville, a native of Merrillville, Ind., earned her most points of the day in the 100-meter hurdles, as she finished sixth in a personal-record time of 14.17 (wind-aided).
“Rebecca had a great hurdle race,” said KU assistant coach Wayne Pate. “That was a lifetime best for her and great way to start the competition.”
In the next event, the high jump, Neville leaped 1.62m (5-03.75 ft.) to finish 12th overall. That mark was a slight improvement on her indoor season-best high jump of 1.61m (5-03.25 ft.).
In the shot put, Neville earned 503 points after recording a mark of 9.60m (31-06 ft.) and in the final event of the day, the 200-meter dash, Neville took ninth with a wind-aided time of 25.43. She tallied 848 points for her effort, the second-best performance of her day.
The remaining three events of the women’s heptathlon will be contested Thursday, starting with the long jump, which is one of Neville’s strongest areas. She was the 2009 Indiana state long jump champion for Merrillville High School, where she posted a personal-best mark of 19-01.75 ft. The javelin throw and 800-meter run mark the final two events for the multi-event athletes. Action will begin at 12 p.m. and can be followed through live results at http://www.texassports.com/livestats/tex-relays/.
Other KU athletes competing on Thursday include Alena Krechyk in the women’s hammer throw, Ryan Hays and Corey Shank in the men’s pole vault and Sasha Cunningham and Taissa Makhmayeva in the prelims of the women’s 400-meter hurdles. The Jayhawks will also have a men’s and women’s 4×800-meter relay take the stage at 5:35 and 5:50 p.m.
