Jan. 10, 2003

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ----- Sophomore Theresa Smith claimed three victories as the UAB women's track team opened its 2003 indoor season in impressive fashion here Thursday night at the Tennessee All-Comers Meet.

Smith, from Montgomery, Ala., finished first in the 50-meter dash (7.23), the 55-meter hurdles (8.18) and the long jump (17-3 1/2) at the meet hosted by the University of Tennessee and held at Stokely Athletics Center. Her win in the 55-meter dash came over Tennessee All-American DeeDee Trotter who finished with a time of 7.29. UAB's Doella Miller was third in the 55 final (7.47) and Crystal Hunter fifth (7.68).

The meet was a perfect opening indoor competition for the Blazers and first-year head coach Ray Stanfield. "I thought the girls' effort was tremendous," said Stanfield. "This was an excellent meet for us. We wanted to test their fitness level, and the results show that they did the work over the break to maintain the level they trained at during the fall.

"The performance here is a credit to them and coach (Jennifer) Robeson," Stanfield said. "We had some good performances against quality competition. Tennessee's program and their success over the years speaks for itself."

UAB's Smith defeated teammate Jocelyn Shepherd (8.56) in the 55-meter hurdles and edged Blazer freshman Olivia Ross-Hurst of Herts, England in the long jump. Ross-Hurst was second with a jump of 16-9 1/4.

Smith's individual victories in Knoxville were three of eight overall won by UAB in the meet. The Blazers failed to capture first in only one event - the pole vault, an event in which they did not field a competitor.

UAB junior Miller led a 1-2-3 Blazer finish in the 400-meter dash, clocking a winning time of 1:01.00 in the final. Teammates Adrienne Duke (1:03.17) and Hunter (1:05.97) finished second and third, respectively. In the 800-meter run, UAB's Donna Pucke was first at 2:27.36, followed by Blazer teammates Elace Minnifield (2:28.55), Amanda Kara (2:29.74) and Ross-Hurst (2:40.79).

Shepherd provided the Blazers with a victory in the triple jump with a winning leap of 37-1 1/4 with Smith finishing second with a jump of 36-2 3/4 in her only attempt in the event.

In the high jump, UAB's Ross-Hurst tied for first with Tennessee's Kelly Flowers at 5-2 1/4 while Duke finished third and Shepherd fourth. Dina Katsoulis, who also is a member of the UAB volleyball team, won the shot put with a throw of 32-0 3/4 while Shepherd was second (28-7 1/2) and Christy Mixon third (27-9 1/4).

UAB will resume its indoor schedule next weekend when the Blazers travel to Carbondale, Ill. to compete in the Saluki Invitational, Jan. 17-18.