Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Cowgirls Close Competition at NCAAs
June 10, 2010 | Cowgirl Cross Country & Track
June 10, 2010
EUGENE, Ore. - Oklahoma State's Cowgirl entrants in the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships finished their competition on day two of the championships.
Junior Mihaela Susa clocked the third-fastest time of her 2010 outdoor season in the 1,500 meters with a 4:19.19, but was unable to advance to Saturday's finals with an eighth-place finish in her heat.
The top five finishers in the two heats, along with the next two fastest times from the remaining competitors advanced to the finals. Susa drew the faster of the two heats, with each of the two at-large qualifiers coming from Susa's heat.
For Susa, it closes out the most productive season of her Cowgirl career. The Cluj-Napoca, Romania, native grabbed school records in the outdoor 1,500 meters and the indoor mile along with all-Big 12 honors in both of those events.
She had an amazing year," OSU Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Dave Smith said. "She improved her PRs in the 1,500 by five seconds and the 800 by four seconds. She went to the cross country national championships for the first time ever and got her first All-American in the indoor mile.
She finished fifth in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March and was an all-region performer during the fall in cross country in her first season under the direction of Smith.
"She's disappointed in today and right now, she can't see the year as anything more than today," Smith said. "That's how track and field is. If she had run two seconds faster, she'd be thrilled because she'd be going to the finals. Overall, she had a fantastic year. She's done all the right things; she was in the right place mentally going into this race. She just didn't have it today."
Junior Clarissa Andrews also finished her competition at the NCAA Championships, bowing out in the trial stage of the triple jump finals.
The school record holder in the event at 13.06 meters, Andrews managed only one good jump in her first trip to the NCAA Championships, leaping 12.12 meters.
Andrews, who earned all-Big 12 honors in the triple jump this year, also closes the best year in a Cowgirl uniform that saw her set a personal best at the Big 12 Championships to qualify for the NCAA Regional. She improved on that personal best at the Regional to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
"She may have had a little stars in her eyes getting here," Smith said. "It was her first time going to nationals and it's hard to keep that intensity and focus going once you get there because she's achieved so much. She set a personal-best by one-half of a meter this year, which is unbelievable. To get here is a huge accomplishment for her and I'm really proud of her."
NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships - OSU Results
1,500 Meter Run National Semifinal
14 Mihaela Susa 4:19.19
Triple Jump Trials
23 Clarissa Andrews 12.12m
