Katie Martin Qualifies for NCAA Championships -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

MARTIN HEADED TO EUGENE IN 400M HURDLES

INTRO

I hope that your Memorial Day Weekend is going well. The actual Memorial Day is tomorrow (Monday) and if you are a bit unclear on what Memorial Day stands for, it is a day to honor, pay tribute and remember those who died while serving our country in the armed forces. 

It was originally called Decoration Day until it became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many will visit family gravesites and memorials over the weekend, many will picnic with family and friends or use the extra day off to vacation, travel, attend auto-racing events, musical festivals or just maybe hit the golf links or get out the bass boat and go fishing or skiing. Whatever your fancy or obligation is today, try to remember those who died protecting the freedoms you enjoy today. 

I know some of you might be checking in today to read Jeff's weekly effort here at Cardinal Couple. Sorry about your luck on that...you get me (Paulie) instead, as all our other writers are off on various pursuits and can't be bothered with taking a few minutes to write.

It's probably just as well. I started this site many moons ago and... when you come down to it...I'm on the site every day ....proof-reading, adding pictures, adding content or covering my two writing days a week plus subbing for Jeff, Jared, Case or Daryl.

Though major illness, surgery, power outages or about anything else you can imagine...the buck stops here, with me.  and, it should. It's my "child"...so to speak, and we are a daily. I just hope to find a nursing home down the road with good wi-fi, a nurse's aide that can type better than me and many great events to continue to happen at UofL with women's sports. 

KATIE MARTIN RUNS AND JUMPS HER WAY TO THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

So, let's look at Katie Martin and her effort yesterday in the NCAA Regional Track and Field qualifier in Bloomington, IN. 

She represented Louisville in the 400 meter and her twelfth-place finish in the event got her qualified for the championships later in June in Eugene, OR. Mind you, the NCAA takes 12 from each Regional, so she jumped and ran through the door with a qualifying time of 57.93. That time was a tenth of a second over the next finisher (Selma Wright - Central Florida) and her finish of 58,03.

Martin's effort was her second best ever in the event. She joins seven other UofL athletes that will be travelling to the Finals. 

A couple of Cards who did not quite get there were Emily Scott in the high jump (15th place), and Katherine Coffey in the discus, Still, they gave their best efforts and were part of a women's track and field squad that had a very good season overall. It's interesting to note that Scott's jump of 1.81M tied the twelfth place finisher in the event,...and so did five other high jumpers. So, how do they determine a winner? You know the NCAA...if there is a way to make something that should be simple into a head-scratching, confusing, almost impossible to figure out determination, they'll do it every time. 

Here's the NCAA's tie-breaker procedure, which makes about as much sense to me as a llama caddying at the local golf course...I'm glad The Three Stooges were consulted and had the final say in something that should be relativize simple but doesn't end up that way. 

Tiebreaker procedures for vertical jump events:

• The competitor with the lowest number of jumps at the height at which the tie occurs shall be awarded the higher place.
• If the tie still remains, the competitor with the lowest total of failures throughout the competition up to and including the height last cleared shall be awarded the higher place.
• If the tie still remains:
  • 1) If it concerns first place, the competitors tying shall have one more jump at each height, starting at the next height in the original progression above the tying height and, if a decision is not reached, the bar shall be raised if the tying competitors were successful, or lowered if not, 2 centimeters in the High Jump and 5 centimeters in the Pole Vault. Competitors tying must jump once on each occasion when resolving the tie. Withdrawal from competition in a jump-off shall not affect participation in subsequent events or negate a competitor’s performance in that event.
  • 2) If it concerns any other place, the competitors shall be awarded the same place in the competition.

 

I'll leave you with that and hope you have a safe and nice rest of your Memorial Day weekend.

paulie