Women's track places fifth overall at C-USA; Robinson and Wade both finish in first place

By Bhagwat Kumar     5/22/12 7:00pm

Becky Wade (Martel '12) found herself in a familiar position at the culmination of her Rice career at the C-USA tournament this weekend, earning gold in both the 5,000m and the 10,000m, finishing with a time of 16:27.57 in the former. Wade also holds the record in the latter event, and ends her Rice career with five C-USA gold medals.

Teammate Allison Pye (Martel '12) was close behind Wade in the 5000m, finishing second with a time of 16:32.84.

"I can't imagine a better way to end my conference career than to finish 1-2 with [Pye]," stated Wade. "It was a fun race and great practice in running from the front, which I am usually not comfortable doing. I am so thankful for coach Jim Bevan for believing in us the past five years and helping us get to this point."

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Wade was joined by junior Sharae Robinson, who won gold in the discus with a comeback victory.

"Sharae was in third place going into the finals and she hit her winning throw in the fifth round to take the lead," Head Coach Jim Bevan said.

Lilian Nwora ran eighth in the 800m with a time of 2:12.71, marking her fastest time of the outdoor season.

Rice placed fifth overall in the team standings with 60.5 points. UCF won the team title for the third straight season with a total of 160 points, beating out second place East Carolina's score of 132.16. Southern Miss finished a distant third with 81 points.

The qualifying members of the team will now train for the NCAA Regionals at the end of May, and those who qualify will then proceed to compete in the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, in early June. Wade is also training for the U.S. Olympic trials in late June.

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