University of Richmond Athletics
Track And Field Records Fall At Penn State
02/01/2004 | Women's Track & Field
Feb. 1, 2004
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa.--The track & field team continued their record breaking spree this weekend as they competed in the Penn State National Invitational. The meet attracted competition from over 60 universities in the Eastern United States. Senior Julee Wilson (Chester Springs, Pa.) continued her record breaking assault by breaking school records in the 200M and 400M events, while redshirt freshman Ryan Mace (McKinney, Texas) broke the men's 200M record. Kevin Rhue (Virginia Beach, Va.) posted the fasted Mile time in the conference and by a Spider in nearly 16 years.
Wilson started her weekend with a fifth-overall finish in the women's long jump with an effort of 5.77M (18'11.25") Friday evening. In her first 400M since the conference outdoor championships, Wilson opened the first 200M in 27.0 and finished the race in 57.11 (11th-place) to break Tamika Williams school record of 57.78 set in 2001. (Williams competed for Bermuda in the 2002 Pan-American games where she ran 2:05.21 in the 800M.) Wilson ran the 200M two hours later, winning the sixth heat in 25.25 and eclipsing Ashley Bell's record of 25.83 set a year earlier on the same track.
A starter for the Spider football squad and running in his second meet, Mace ran a school record performance in the men's 200M dash of 22.52 breaking Ryan Tolhurst's 2001 record of 22.55. As a 2002 senior at McKinney High School in Texas, he recorded the ninth fastest scholastic 300M hurdle time (37.25) in the nation.
Rhue ran a personal best in the Mile placing fourth overall with a time of 4:10.69. Running even splits of 31.2 and 31.4 he hit the 400M mark in 62.6 moving into the top five in the race. As the leaders hit the 600M mark in 1:34.4 the pace started to quicken slightly as Rhue dropped to eighth place through 800M in 2:05.3. The next two laps proved to be critical and the slowest of the race as the pack covered that 400M in 63.0 with Rhue in 63.4 (3:08.7 at 1200M). From there Rhue started to move through the field as he covered the next 200M in 31.1, bringing him to the bell lap in 3:39.8 and moving into fourth-place. He maintained his position and closed on the leaders running the last 210M in 30.4 to hit the Mile distance in a lifetime best. "I'm pleased with my performance for my first Mile race of the year," said Rhue. "It let's me know where I'm at right now and where I can be by the end of the season."
In the 5000M, senior Lyndsey Webber (Sayville, N.Y.) was running well until meet officials stopped her a lap early. Her time of 16:55.0 for three miles was a 17:35 pace for 5K. Freshman Amanda Russell (North Bay, Ontario, Canada) set a personal best with her effort of 17:50.61, improving on her performance from last weekend's 5000M. Webber and Russell went through the 1600M in 5:22.1 and 5:29.6 respectively. Webber continued to push through the 3200M mark in 11:05.8, while Russell hit 11:21.8. Over the next 1600M Webber started to catch people falling off the lead pack but would not finish because she and three other athletes were given the wrong number of laps and finished a lap early. Russell ran 17:07.7 through three miles and kicked home in the new personal best of 17:50.61. "I'm quite happy with that time," Russell said. "It's 17 seconds faster than I ran last weekend. It hurt towards the end, but I think I can go faster."
In the men's 5000M, Jon Lauder (Oakton, Va.) and Seann Mulcahy (Wyantskill, N.Y.) both placed well (fourth and sixth) for the Spiders in the first heat and set personal best marks. Lauder's time of 15:09.64 was a 15 second improvement over his best mark set at the Duke Relays last April. Mulcahy's time of 15:12.41 was a slight improvement over his performance in this meet one year ago. Lauder and Mulcahy covered the opening eight laps (1600M) in 4:46. By 3200M (9:37.4) Lauder was in the lead pack of the race with Mulcahy not far behind in 9:40.9. They hit three miles (4800M) in 14:35.1 and 14:38.4, respectively, before closing the last 200M of the race.
The Shot Put was a big event for the Spiders as Coach Angela Bertholdt won the event with a throw of 51'00.25" qualifying her for the USATF Indoor Championships in March. Bertholdt is one of the top throwers in the nation placing fifth at the 2003 USATF National Championships. Senior Diane Schreiber (Johnsonburg, Pa.) set her personal best mark in the first flight with a throw of 44'04" to place sixth in the event, while freshman Leslie Gleue (Cape Canaveral, Fla.) threw a personal best by nearly two feet with her 39'10" effort. "Diane had a great throw in prelims," said Bertholdt. "It's big that she made finals in a meet of this caliber. I'm pleased with my throw today. I have a couple of technical things to work on, but some of those will be taken care of with more throws in the competition setting. I just need to throw in some more meets." Additionally, Schreiber threw 14.76M (48'05.25") in the 20 pound weight throw after setting a school record in the event last weekend of 51'03.75".
The women's Distance Medley Relay (DMR) ran a season best and conference leading performance of 12:03.53 to place second in the second section and seventh overall. Sophomore, Diana Morse (Harvard, Mass.) ran the 1200M leg covering the first six laps of the race in 3:44.1. She handed off in fourth place to sophomore, Danielle Eaton (Malvern, Pa.) who covered the 400M leg in 58.8 and moved the Spiders into third-place behind West Virginia University and Hampton University. From there freshman, Nicole Erby (Carlisle, Pa.) took the baton for the 800M segment and opened with a 32.4 and added another lap of 34.8 to hit 67.2 for the first half (400M) of her leg. After, she dug down and raced stride for stride with Hampton University. Her 800M split ended at 2:17.4 as she handed the baton to freshman Caitlin Smyth (Upper Saddle River, N.J.), who had eight laps (1600M) to race. WVU had pulled away to lead by 45 meters as Smyth took the baton even with Eboni White, Hampton's anchor. Smyth immediately started for the WVU team as she opened in 70.1 for her first 400M. By 800M she had cut the WVU lead in half as she crossed the line in 2:25.1 and put 30 meters between herself and Hampton's White. By 1200M (3:44.2) the lead was only three steps then Smyth tried to get around WVU's anchor but came up just a little short as she crossed the line in 12:03.53 covering her 1600M leg in 5:03.2.
After the DMR on Friday evening, Eaton returned on Saturday to run a personal best in the 500M of 1:17.09. Also running the 500M dash was sophomore, Amy Thesing (Columbia, S.C.) who ran 1:22.13.
Morse and Erby also returned from the DMR to compete in the 1000M run. Morse ran a personal best with her effort of 2:57.98, while Erby ran 3:01.76 in her first 1000M race. Morse moved well throughout the race opening in 32.2 for the first 200M and hitting 2:20.4 through 800M before kicking past two athletes in the last lap.
Junior, Ashley Bell's (Glen Allen, Va.) ran 9.00 in the 60M hurdles to improve slightly upon last weekend's effort of 9.02 at Virginia Tech. Freshman, Heather Patch (Leesport, Pa.) ran 9.48 for the event. Bell returned to competition to jump 11.51M (38'9.25") in the triple jump to place ninth overall and 5.31M (17' 05.25") in the long jump. She also ran the 200M in 26.49. Junior Jennifer Coles (Gretna, Va.) ran 27.27 in the 200M and 8.07 in the 60M dash.
In the sprints for the men, along with redshirt freshman Ryan Mace school record in the 200M, juniors Clement Johnson (Bishopville, Md.) and David Freeman (Fayetteville, N.C.) both improved dramatically from last weekend. Johnson's 22.68 and Freeman's 22.70 were nearly a full second faster than one week ago. In the short sprint (60M dash) Mace ran 7.05, Johnson hit 7.06, and Freeman ran 7.42.
In the 3000M run, senior Nicole Kurtain (Hamilton, N.J.) ran 10:17.44 to place 12th.
Also competing for the Spiders were Caitlin Smyth (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) in the Mile (5:08.20), John Ciccarelli (South Bury, Conn.) in the Mile (4:24.14), Reynolds Chapman (Voluntown, Conn.) in the Mile (4:24.55), Katie Ryan (Garden City, N.Y.) and Rachel Brushett (Silver Springs, Md.) in the High Jump at 5'02.25".
The Spiders travel to Fairfax, Va. on Feb. 7th for the George Mason Invitational.