Athlete Quotes - Sunday

Men's High Jump

Jamie Nieto, Men's High Jump, 1st place

"It feels great. I'm truly blessed. I really wanted to win because I kind of felt like I had a target on my back since I won the outdoor nationals last year. I think everybody was kind of gunning for me. I want to stay consistent, and do what I know I can do. If things stay together for me, I'm very happy, I'm very proud."

Women's Shot Put

Laura Gerraughty, Women's Shot Put, 1st place

"I've been working very hard during the indoor season, but I'm a bit surprised at the winning toss. Training has been going well. The one thing I've been doing is working on my consistency. It was good to have my college coach, my high school coach and family members here today. My goal now is to keep training and focus on the NCAA meet and the Olympic Trials. Actually, my second toss (winning throw), I really didn't dig into it. I was a bit surprised at the distance."

NOTE: Gerraughty's winning toss of 62 feet, 9.5 inches is a new collegiate record. The old record, 61 feet, 9.5 inches was set by Terri Tunks (SMU) 2-28-98.

Kristin Heaston, Women's Shot Put, 2nd place

"I'm not disappointed with today. I was up against some great competition in Laura (Gerraughty). The competition was awesome today. For the future, I need to feed off those opportunities, so that the women's shot putters can compete internationally."

Men's Long Jump

Savante Stringfellow, Men's Long Jump, 1st place

"I'm ready to make the trip to Budapest. In terms of my competition, I always look to them to jump their best, to push me."

"I think 28 feet is in the making. With my new coach I've been getting more serious with my training."

Marcus Thomas, Men's Long Jump, 2nd place

"Today is a big accomplishment for me. Coming off the surgery I had, it's an injury that a lot of athletes don't come back from, and coming back from all the adversity and people saying I was washed up, when I was actually hurt.

"It's a big accomplishment for me. I came in here, and did my best."

Brian Johnson, Men's Long Jump, 4th Place

On qualifying for Budapest: "I felt alright about my performance today. I tore two ligaments in my knee last April, so it has been slow recovering from that. I just began competing again in February, so it's been slow."

Women's Pole Vault

Stacy Dragila, Women's Pole Vault, 1st place

"I was really happy with my performance. This whole year I've been working on my 14-foot poles and today I used some 14-7s, which is going to allow me to get to a higher height. The rhythm of the jump went really smooth, kind of surprised me. So I think those are the poles I need to be on when I go to Budapest."

Jillian Schwartz, Women's Pole Vault, 2nd place

"I'm really happy that I made the team and that I'm going to World's. I thought I did well today, however I wanted to make that last bar because it would have been a PR for me. I just wanted to stay calm out there and do my best."

Women's High Jump

Amy Acuff, Women's High Jump, 1st place

"I just kept my fingers crossed with how I was going to do. It's been very tough with the weather down in Texas to get jump sessions in. So, everything I did today was based off of last year. But, I felt great and everything looked good."

Tisha Waller, Women's High Jump, 2nd place

"It was interesting. Normally indoors I jump much higher. We've had some horrible weather on the East coast so that fine-tuning is not quite there. Everything else is okay. I'm looking forward to training outdoors. I have chosen not to go Indoor worlds."

Women's Long Jump

Tameisha King, Women's Long Jump, 1st place

"I felt really good. I had a back strain but it didn't bother me. It was my first U.S. Indoor competition. This feeling feels really good and it makes me want to train harder."

Grace Upshaw, Women's Long Jump, 2nd place

"Generally, I felt pretty good today. I had a busy couple of weeks, so if anything, I might have been a bit tired. This was a good atmosphere to jump in. The crowd really got into the competition. I'll definitely be going to the World Championships. The only thing that was a little odd today was that I felt a little bit different on the jumping runway because they had changed things a little bit."

Men's Shot Put

Christian Cantwell, Men's Shot Put, 1st place

"I felt like this was a good effort today. My main objective was to win here and then compete well. The distance I threw was secondary to winning. My objective at the World Indoor Championships is to throw a personal best of 21.96 (72 feet-0.75 inches)."

Women's 3000m Race Walk

Joanne Dow, Women's 3,000m Race Walk, 1st place

"I came here to race a solid race and right now I am really working toward the summer. I'm pleased with how I did today. I'm pleased because I walked almost 20 seconds faster than I did last Sunday."

Michelle Rohl, Women's 3,000m Race Walk, 2nd place

"It pretty much went the way I expected. I was injured, and I didn't want to be too competitive and risk any injury. Joanne (Dow) had a great race, and I was out of that race to begin with. It was okay. I didn't feel too competitive, and I was glad no one was pushing me."

Men's 3000m

Jonathon Riley, Men's 3,000m, 1st Place

"The race went out slower so I knew it would be a fast finish. This is definitely the best field I've raced against. I wanted to stay on the outside so I would be in position to cover whatever moves were made.

"I definitely ran intelligently and I give my coach credit for that. I haven't made an Outdoor world or Olympic team yet, and I think that's how all of us measure ourselves.

"I feel lucky to have this facility to race in. It has brought such great things to our community. Big meets like this are wonderful for the area."

Luke Watson, Men's 3,000m, 2nd Place

"My plan for today is exactly how it played out in the race. I wanted to get in there and relax and at the end, come up with a big kick at the finish. I got stuck in the lane for some of the race that cost me three-tenths of a second in the end. It's an indoor meet, so it's a very strategic race for us."

Women's 400m

Julian Clay, Women's 400m, 1st place

"I was really pleased with how I did today. I wasn't going to run indoors, but my husband and coach convinced me to just go for it. I made the choice to just go for it and stay tough and be aggressive. I'm very happy that I did."

Men's 400m

Milt Campbell, Men's 400m, 1st place

"My thought was to get out fast by the break. I wanted to control the race from there. I wanted to make it as easy as possible. I'm pleased with my time today. Looking ahead, my goal is to try to compete and have fun the rest of the season. I'm falling in love with this sport again. Running two races today is going to pay off next week at World's."

James Carter, Men's 400m, 2nd place

"I'm not displeased at all. It's my second meet this year. I don't want to take the indoor season too seriously. I want to go to Nationals and see what I can do.

"I wanted to get to the break, to the pole and then qualify. I tried to hold my form and power down the stretch."

Women's 200m

Crystal Cox, Women's 200m, 1st place

"I've been training so hard, working on different stuff with weight training and sprints. I was very nervous because I was in lane six and that's a really hard lane to start in. I saw Rachelle (Boone), so I just went after it and I'm very happy with how I came out."

Rachelle Boone, Women's 200m, 2nd place

"My goal was to finish first or second and that's what I did. I ran smoother in the finals, much better than earlier. It played out pretty well."

Men's 200m

Jimmie Hackley, Men's 200m, 1st place

"It's been hard for me lately because I'm taking a full load of classes at grad school (University of Florida), so I've been tired. I decided when I came here today just to go all out. I don't really have a strategy, just to go out and run as fast as I can."

Coby Miller, Men's 200m, 2nd place

"I had to be patient. I haven't run a good 200 since 2001 when I broke my ankle. I had a slow start. If I had my head on straight, I knew I could make this team."

Women's 1500m

Jen Toomey, Women's 1,500m, 1st place

"My plan was just to go out and see how I felt at the halfway mark. It was crowded, so I had to pick my spots moving up. This morning I got up and I told my coach I didn't think I could run today. Coach told me 'you told me several months ago you were going to do a double, so (he said) stick with the plan.'

This was definitely a race of strength over speed today. Now that I've run the double, I'm tired but it feels good. I didn't realize until the morning that no runner had ever completed the 800-1500 double before."

Suzy Favor Hamilton, Women's 1,500m, 3rd place

"I ran the race based on my own strength which is endurance. I don't really have a lot of speed and that's what I'm going to be working on. I did everything I could in this race, but my lack of speed is what hurt in the end. I'm definitely disappointed. I hadn't thought too much about Budapest, but had I qualified, I was leaning towards going."

Amy Rudolph, Women's 1,500m, 2nd place

"The first 1200 meters was really slow. I was worried because I'm more of a distance runner. Suzy (Favor Hamilton) took it, Jen took off and I just tried not to let them get too far. I missed a lot of training and I'm just starting to get into form."