University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
New Balance College Challenge (Feb. 2-3)
Track & Field Splits Squads Between New Balance Indoor Games and Mid-Atlantic Track Clash
02/03/2007 | Women's Track & Field
Feb. 3, 2007
NEW BALANCE INDOOR GAMES
Complete Results
Van Alstine was just one second off the Richmond school record held by former NCAA qualifier Ruth Chege. It improves Van Alstine's personal best time from the week before at the Penn State National Invitational (9:58.78) and cut nearly 20 seconds from her high school best (10:12.87) at the Penn Relays last April.
"This was a very good race for Amy and well under her mark from last week at Penn State," Richmond head coach Lori Taylor said. "Each week she learns and gains experience of racing at the NCAA Division I level. She's mentally tough and raced with tenacity today."
Richmond junior Kylee Schuler ran 10:06.49 to place 18th in the college 3,000 run. Schuler placed third in her heat.
"Kylee continues to improve and race with more and more confidence," Taylor said. "She led this race and did all the work. Although that may have cost her the win, it's important in her development and will pay off in the coming weeks."
Spider senior Beth Crocus threw her best series ever in the weight throw to place 12th with a mark of 55-7 1/2. All of her throws were within three inches of her school record for the event.
"Today was Beth's best series ever for the weight throw," Taylor said. "She is consistently throwing over 55 feet and her workouts are indicating she is ready for an even bigger throw. She is one of our hardest working athletes and is stepping up her leadership role for the team. That's important with so many freshmen and sophomores on our team."
Freshman Kristen Crawford placed 24th out of 48 competitors, throwing the shot 43-feet-0 1/4 on Friday.
"Kristen has been throwing consistently in the 43-foot range," Richmond head coach Lori Taylor said. "She threw well again. We are excited about her because we know what she does in the weight room. As her form becomes better she can throw further."
Richmond sophomore Jessica Young placed second in her heat of the 400-meter dash Friday in 55.23 seconds. Young's time placed her 14th in qualifying and did not advance her to the finals.
"It was not Jessica's best today," Taylor said. "It was a good race with Ginou Etienne (Miami), but not fast enough to make finals."
She returned to win her heat in the 200 dash prelims in 24.16 seconds and finished 12th in the finals with a time of 24.36 seconds.
Spider sophomore Jasmine Major placed fifth in her heat of the 60 hurdles with a personal best time of 8.85 seconds. That time placed her 28th out of 79 athletes and did not advance her to finals. She ran the 200 dash in 25.54 seconds on Saturday to place fifth in her heat.
MID-ATLANTIC TRACK CLASH
Men's Results | Women's Results | Photo Gallery
RICHMOND, Va. - This was a very unique track meet that brought together college/open races along with high school races on the new 200-meter indoor track & field facility at St. Christopher's School near the UR campus.
The meet was co-sponsored by Richmond Track & Field, St. Christopher's School, Richmond Sports Backers and Brandon Miles who owns www.milestat.com. The meet alternated between college/open races and high school events and brought together some of the top high school talent in Virginia. The Beynon Track surface proved to be one of the fastest flat track's in the nation producing some of the top high times in the nation.
On the college side Richmond, University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth attended.
"For the first year this event was a great success," Richmond head coach Lori Taylor said. "We greatly appreciate the efforts of everyone at St. Christopher's School, the Richmond Sports Backers and Brandon Mile to make the meet a reality. It was great to have the opportunity to race on St. Christopher's beautiful facility. They have been very gracious and allow us to train our team on their facility during the winter months and since it's so close to campus this was the equivalent of a home meet for us. We already look forward to next year and expect a tremendous event on the very fast Beynon Track."
Junior Hunter Willis won the 5,000-meter run in a time of 15:28.04 and sophomore Sean McKinney was second in 15:46.57.
"This was a lonely race for these guys today, but they got in some good work," Richmond men's coach Steve Taylor said. "They needed a mark for the conference championships and with so few invitational's offering the 5K this was their opportunity."
Richmond freshmen Andrew Benford and Matt Llano placed second and fourth respectively in the 3,000. Benford ran 8:43.13 and Llano ran 8:46.17. Both runners were taking part in the 3,000 for the first time and for Benford it was his first collegiate track race.
In one of the most exciting races of the day, Benford and Llano went through the mile with the leaders in 4:36. From there it was a four-man race with Benford, Llano and Virginia's Graham Tribble and James Erickson. Benford came off the last turn to pull up on Tribble's shoulder but he just came up a little short of the win. Also, in this race was freshman Jon Wilson, who ran 9:02.06.
"All three of these freshmen ran well," Steve Taylor said. "Benford and Llano were tough over the last mile and with 600 meters to go I thought either of them could win. They are still learning how to race indoors and for Benford this was his first indoor race ever."
Sophomore Jeff Strojny was just 0.09 seconds off the win in the 800, taking second in 1:58.91. Red-shirt freshman Derek Jensen placed fourth in the 800 in 1:59.03.
"Jeff ran a good strategic race," Steve Taylor said. "He made good decisions throughout and made a charge with 350 meters to go. The times weren't fast, but it was a good race. Jensen looked like he had a lot of running left him, but he was just back too far early in the race. I expect to see his times drop significantly throughout the season."
Junior Jonathan Molz ran the mile in 4:20.99 to take seventh, while sophomore Sean Welsh ran a personal best of 4:23.86. Sophomore Garrett Graham (4:24.86) finished 10th.
Richmond's men's 4x800 relay team ran an 8:04.71 to finish second to VCU by .06 in a photo finish.
On the women's side at the Mid-Atlantic Track Clash, freshman Jasmine Cottle won the 200 dash in 26.54 seconds, with three more Richmond freshman taking placing in the top five. Freshman Megan Ney took third in 27.10, freshman Kerry Kelly finished fourth in 27.95 and freshman JoAnna Ubiwa took fifth in 28.23. Freshman Stephanie Lapp finished sixth at 29.18.
"This was a good win for Jasmine," Richmond women's coach Lori Taylor said.
Junior Shelby Faircloth placed second in the 5,000 with a time of 18:28.24.
"Shelby ran well today," Lori Taylor said. "She went out in 5:45 through the mile and just continued consistent running throughout. Each lap was between 44.8 and 45.1 over the last 2,400 meters."
