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Hodge earns All-America honors at NCAA's
March 14, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Virgil Hodge placed seventh overall in the women's 200 meters to earn All-America honors on the first day of competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
"I thought we had a reasonable day today. The competition was great and obviously we would have liked Virgil Hodge to win in her final indoor meet of her career, but she faced some great competition," said Darryl Anderson. Hodge, who is now a six-time All-American, blazed to a season-best time of 23.20 seconds in the finals of the women's 200 meters to finish third in her heat and seventh overall. Hodge finished in seventh-place for the second-consecutive year at the NCAA Indoor Championships and captured her sixth All-America honor. She is the only female in school history with at least six All-America honors. Bianca Knight of Texas won the event by clocking a new collegiate and meet record. Knight posted a time of 22.40. Hodge qualified for the finals of the women's 200 meters by crossing the finish line in 23.28 seconds to finish third overall in her heat and eighth in preliminary action. "Any of the eight women who made the final had a chance to win and I thought Virgil did well. She had some technical errors late in the race that cost her, but anytime you can come in here and make All-American it is a great accomplishment," said Anderson. Hodge, a senior from St. Kitts, opened the day clocking a 7.36 in the 60-meter prelims to finish fifth overall in her heat, but failed to qualify for Saturday's final. In the women's long jump, Neidra Covington soared 6.22m (20-05.00) to place ninth overall in the event. Covington will compete in the women's triple jump tomorrow at the Randal Tyson Track Center. "Neidra jumped in and made the finals in the long jump. She is going to play a key role in our team stepping up in the next few years because she is only a sophomore. She did well today," said Anderson. TCU closed out the first day of competition in 35th-place with two points. On Saturday, senior Jonathan Jackson, who placed third overall in the triple jump at the NCAA outdoors last spring, will compete in the triple jump after hitting an NCAA qualifying mark of 16.26m (53-04.25) at the Mountain West Conference Championships. The senior currently has the fourth best jump in the NCAA heading into tomorrow's action. Covington will represent the Purple and White in the women's triple jump on Saturday. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native comes into the final day of competition having posted a school record jump of 13.41m (44-00.00) at the MWC Championships. Her leap is currently the eighth best jump in the NCAA. Finally, the men's 4x400 unit of Matthew Love, Dell Guy, Che Chavez and Clemore Henry will look to improve upon their time of 3:07.03 seconds set last weekend in Fayetteville. "We will get some rest tonight and come back tomorrow and regroup. I am looking forward to the challenge and seeing how it goes," said Anderson.
The Flyin' Frogs return to the Randal Tyson Track Center tomorrow afternoon. TCU is set to begin competition at 5:30 p.m. with the men's triple jump. Real-time scoring will be available on www.ladybacks.com, and complete results at the conclusion of the day can be viewed at www.gofrogs.com. Live results will also be available on www.gofrogs.com.
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