April 13, 2000.

Zips' Smith tabbed National Track Athlete of the Week
Senior earns award for performance at Texas Relays
Edited from Buchtelite reports

Akron's Christi Smith was selected by Trackwire as its National Female Athlete of
the Week for her performance at the Texas Relays last weekend.

Smith, a senior three-time All-American, has also been chosen as the
Mid-American Conference Track Athlete of the Week, the MAC Scholar-Athlete
of the Week and the UA Athlete of the Week after scoring a MAC and UA record
5,932 points in the heptathlon.

She popped a career-best time of 14.04 in the 100-meter hurdles and cleared 20-5
in the long jump to highlight a brilliant two-day performance.

Her score automatically qualified Smith for the NCAA Championships to be held
at Duke University in June.

A year ago, she placed second at the NCAA meet behind Stanford senior Tracye
Lawyer.

The top collegiate finisher at the Texas Relays, Smith did finish second to former
Olympian Kelly Blair, who competed unattached.

In addition, Smith provisionally qualified for the NCAAs as well in the long jump
with a school record leap of 20-5 3/4.

Twice named Academic All-MAC, Smith was the 1999 Penn Relays heptathlon
champion.

The Columbus native led Akron to the outdoor MAC team title last May at Central
Michigan and was chosen as the meet's "Outstanding Performer."

She is the two-time defending MAC heptathlon champion and became the first UA
track athlete to score at the NCAA Division I Championships last June in Boise,
Idaho.

Zips track and field records continue to fall in Texas
Several Akron records fall at Texas Relays
By Delano Massey
The Buchtelite 4/11/00

The University of Akron's track team continued its nationwide campaign when it
ventured into Texas this past weekend.

The Zips participated in the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas, in just their third week
of the outdoor track season. They have already managed to start this season with
some impressive performances.
Their first meet against North Carolina left their competitors' heels in the tar and
their performance in Akron gave the crowd something to be proud of.

Perhaps the Zips track team is a more effective tool than Dr. Proenza's
commercials because the Lady Zips have been putting The University of Akron on
the map. Anyone that might have questioned the exact location of Akron might be
pulling out his or her maps to figure it out.

The Zips managed to break four school records and also saw the success of
several athletes.

Senior Christi Smith's performance not only broke her school and Mid-American
Conference record in the heptathlon, but her finish of 5,932 points secured her a
second place finish. Smith also finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 20-5
3/4. That jump was good enough to provisionally qualify Smith for the NCAA
Championships and three-quarters of an inch better than the record of 20-5 set in
the heptathlon. It's a scary thought, but Smith is just getting warmed up.

Senior sprinter LaTrese Taylor broke one of her own records in the 100-meter
finals with a time of 11.56. Taylor's seventh place finish shaved 1/100th of a
second from last weekend's time at the Akron Quad.

The tone for this meet was obviously set, and the Zips were not going to let up.
They remained focused, broke records and were determined to create a name for
themselves nationwide. With individuals such as sophomore Mary Varga, it's hard
to see anything but success coming from the Zips. Varga stepped up and contributed
to the Zips' record-setting efforts by finishing third in the javelin with a throw of
146-4. Varga's efforts resembled Taylor's because she also manged to improve on
a mark that she set last week (144-0).

Perhaps with intentions not to interrupt the smooth flow and pattern, junior Jessie
Sheeran also improved on a record that she set last weekend. Sheeran finished
second in her section of the discus event with a throw of 155-8. That toss leaves
last weeks' toss of 150-6 as a distant memory.

Others that competed in the meet were Keelie Harvey (fourth place in pole vault,
11-7 3/4), Karen Beasley (sixth place in high jump, 5-7 1/4) and Jeanine Thomas
(seventh place in pole vault, 11-1 3/4). LeShaunte Edwards and Chad Bullet
competed in the 100-meter dash but uncharacteristically did not qualify for the
finals.

It is evident that one of the Zips' main focuses while practicing is improvement
because their records change before there is time for them to be recorded. As we
saw in the indoor track season and we are starting to see now, the Zips are
determined to win and win big. The track team is eliminating that repetitive
question heard 'round the world during certain commercials, "The University of
who?"

Edwards breaks school record at NCAA Meet
Taylor sets record despite ending string of No. 1 finishes
By Delano Massey
The Buchtelite

The University of Akron sent qualifying track athletes to the University of Arkansas to
compete at the NCAA Meet.

Junior sprinter LeShaunte Edwards managed to finish the 200-meter with a
school-record time of 21.15 surpassing his record time of 21.20, which he set two
weeks ago at the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships.

Edwards also finished third in his heat of the men's 200-meter dash and 14th overall in
the preliminaries.

Senior sprinter LaTrese Taylor, who has been setting school records consistently all
season, set another school record while competing in the preliminary round of the
women's 200-meter dash.

Taylor's record-setting time of 23.94 establishes her as the first female Zip to run below
24.00.

Taylor finished third in her heat and 12th overall, but did not qualify for the finals.

Also competing at the meet was senior Jasmine Reynolds.

Reynolds competed in the 200 but was disqualified.

Women's track team defends its title at All-Ohio Championships
UA women's track team continues to leave the competition in the dust
Delano Massey
The Buchtelite

The University of Akron's women's indoor track team has created a trend to dominate their
competition consistently this season.

It would seem as if Head Coach Dennis Mitchell has the Zips ready to run and destroy each and
every one of their opponents.

That all-too-familiar sight continued this past Saturday.

The women's team traveled to Bowling Green to compete in the 2000 All-Ohio Championships.

The Zips dished out even more punishment this weekend by capturing 12 events and making
adjustments to five school records.

The women defended their team title by finishing first with 169 total points.

Breaking records has become a norm for the women this season as they continue to take huge steps
towards a Mid-American Conference Championship.

Senior sprinter LaTrese Taylor continued her unbeaten streak by finishing the 60-meter dash in first
place.

Taylor's time of 7.40 was good enough to break her own Akron mark in the event.

Taylor also finished first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.62.

Sophomore distance runner Jen Moore contributed to the Zips' record-setting day when she
shattered her own record time by finishing first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.90.

The women broke the remaining school records in field events.

Sophomore pole vaulter Jeanie Thomas topped her mark with a vault of 12-3 1/4.

Senior Karen Beasley and sophomore Keelie Harvey finished second- and third-place respectively,
both with vaults of 11-4 1/4.

Beasley also finished first in the high jump clearing 5-8 3/4.

Junior Jessie Sheeran took third in the shot put with a school-record throw of 47-8 1/2.

All-American senior heptathlete Christi Smith closed the record books for the day by winning the
triple jump with a leap of 40-1 1/2.

Smith was also victorious in the long jump with a first place jump of 19-8 1/2.

The Zips' men's indoor track team also had some success at the meet.

The Zips finished fourth overall with a total of 83 points.

Junior LeShaunte Edwards finished second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.67.

That time that was good enough to tie fellow teammate junior Chad Bullet's school record.

Bullet followed close behind Edwards to finish third with a time of 6.74.

Edwards also took home second-place honors in the 200-meter-dash (21.52).

In the field events for the men, freshman pole vaulter Greg Miller set a personal best in the pole vault
and finished third with a vault of 15-7.

Sophomore Jim DeMarco also cleared 15-7 to tie his own season-high.

Both the men's and women's teams travel to Kent State this weekend.

Friday marks the start of Kent State's Sam Bair Open.

The teams will finish off their weekend Saturday at Kent State's Throwathlon.

March 2, 2000.

Zips were favored, but finished third at MAC Championships
Akron women break eight school records at MAC Championships
By Delano Massey
The Buchtelite

The University of Akron women's indoor track team wrapped up its record-setting indoor
season with a third place finish at the Mid-American Conference championships at
Eastern Michigan State University.

The Eastern Michigan Eagles were the host and winners as their men and women were
victorious in front of an enormous home crowd this weekend. The Eagles finished with a
total of 142 points, followed by Ball State (126) and Akron (117).

The Zips entered the meet with the same desire and determination that reflected a path to
an unprecedented Triple Crown. No MAC team has ever won consecutive MAC
championships in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. All signs pointed in that
direction for the Lady Zips. The women entered the meet as the overwhelming favorite,
and a victory at Eastern Michigan was assumed to be easily attainable.

Despite the fact that the Eagles were running on familiar turf, the Lady Zips appeared to
be the obvious choice. The Eagles' women might have entered this meet as a sleeper, but
their performance woke up a lot of doubters.

"I knew that Eastern Michigan was going to be tough," said Zips Head Coach Dennis
Mitchell. "I had been saying that all week. We just didn't perform as well as we had been
performing all year."

This was a devastating blow to the Zips who are accustomed to dominating all of their
opponents. As a matter of fact, their recent performances have kept erasers and pencils
moving rapidly in the record books. It seemed as if the women were making adjustments
to school records every week.

This weekend was a different story, but not by much. The women continued to break
records, but their eight record-setting performances were not enough to overcome
Eastern Michigan. It is hard to say what it was that disturbed the flow of the well-oiled
machine. Day one results saw the Zips as the No. 1 team, and ahead of expectations. The
fact that the Zips do not have their own indoor track facility, as does Eastern Michigan,
could have played a small role in their preparation for the meet. Eastern Michigan had an
advantage since they practice on that very track everyday. Although practicing conditions
did not seem to be a problem for the Zips in the past, things seemed very different last
weekend.

One might suggest that the turn of events occurred after a critical mistake during the
5,000-meter run. Michelle Rizzo was running strong with a substantial lead when there
was some confusion with the gun and the lap counter signaling the final lap of the race.
Rizzo reacted by turning on the juice and totally destroying Eastern Michigan's Carrie
Gould. Rizzo crossed the finish line celebrating what she thought was a huge victory only
to discover there was one more lap. Gould continued running after someone informed her
of the error long before she could make the same mistake. Rizzo attempted to catch her,
but it was too late. Rizzo finished second (17:24.70) and that incident may have been the
talk of the meet (Rizzo also finished eighth in the 3,000 with a time of 10:01.17).

"After that event things continued to go downhill, but that is not the reason that we lost
the meet," Mitchell said. "All credit goes to Eastern Michigan, they had a great run."
The momentum shifted to Eastern Michigan and things just would not click for the Zips.

Senior LaTrese Taylor defended her undefeated title with a first place record-setting
finish in the 60-meter dash. Taylor set a new track mark with an EMU-Field House
record time of 7.45. Senior Jasmine Reynolds finished behind Taylor with a third place
time of 7.53. Reynolds added a first place finish and record-setting performance in the
200 with a time of 24.06. Reynolds edged Taylor out by one-hundredth of a second in a
perfect example of a photo finish. Both times were good enough to meet the NCAA
provisional qualifying mark.

Despite the unfortunate turn of events, the Zips still had some outstanding performances
and many athletes stepped up. Senior Terra Jones finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles
with a record-setting time of 8.61. Senior Christi Smith showed signs of super-human
powers when she won the pentathlon with a MAC and school record of 4,016 points.
This just adds another title to Smith's collection of five individual MAC titles. Smith
placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles (8.93), sixth in the long jump (18-4 1/3), and fourth
in the triple jump (39-8).

Jeanine Thomas finished second in the pole vault, clearing 11-7 3/4. Sophomore Mary
Varga took third (5-7 3/4) despite her battle with nagging injuries. Thrower Jessie
Sheeran took home third in the shot put (48-3 1/4). This concludes an amazing indoor
season for the Zips, but more importantly it gives them some conditioning as they look
forward to the start of their outdoor season. The outdoor season promises to bring just as
much excitement, if not more.

The Zips' men finished seventh overall with 36 points. Junior sprinters LeShaunte
Edwards and Chad Bullett continued their usual 1-2 finish in the 60-meter dash with
times of 6.70 and 6.77. This time it was behind Kent State's Bobby Cruse for second and
third place respectively. Edwards also took home third place in the 200 with a
school-record time of 21.20.

The 1,600-meter relay team was fifth with a time of 3:19.93. The Zips' only other
top-five finish came when Jim DeMarco's finished third in the pole vault (16-0 3/4).

March 2, 2000.

Next stop for Zips' track stars? U.S. Track & Field Championships
Five Zips will compete on national television
By Delano Massey
The Buchtelite

After a grueling indoor track schedule, some University of Akron athletes will travel to
Atlanta this weekend to compete at a higher level.

Five athletes qualified for this meet to compete against the best of America's athletes in
their respective events.

LaTrese Taylor will be taking her undefeated title to Atlanta's Georgia Dome to meet
her biggest challenge.

"LaTrese's undefeated streak will be tested this weekend," said Zips Head Coach
Dennis Mitchell.

Mitchell is proud of his athletes and is very excited about the competition they will meet
up against.

Others that will be competing are senior sprinter Jasmine Reynolds, senior pentathlete
Christi Smith, junior thrower Jessie Sheeran and junior sprinter LeShaunte Edwards.

The USA meet will also give the athletes an opportunity to qualify at a higher national
level before the NCAA Indoor Championships at Arkansas in two weeks.

The meet will be televised on NBC on Saturday and ESPN on Sunday (check local
listings).

Freshman Greg Corbitt received "Athlete of the Week" honors Tuesday. Corbitt entered
the MAC Indoor Championships ranked No. 17 in the 35-pound weight throw and
placed seventh with a personal best of 57-7 1/2.