University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Sea Ray Relays (Apr. 13-14)
Young, Willis And Molz Shine At Sea Ray Relays
04/15/2007 | Women's Track & Field
April 14, 2007
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Sophomore Jessica Young broke her own school record in the 400-meter dash, while Hunter Willis and Jonathan Molz also posted top-10 finishes at the Sea Ray Relays, hosted by the University of Tennesse on Friday and Saturday.
Young ran the 400-meter dash in a new school record time of 52.74, taking fourth overall and second among collegians. Penn State's Shana Cox was the only collegian to finish ahead of Young, winning the event in 51.81 seconds. Young defeated U.S. Olympian Hazel Clark in the second heat and finished ahead of several of the runners in the fastest heat.
Clark, who is known for finishing the 400 strong, started to close the gap on Young in the final 100 meters, but Young was able to pull away down the stretch.
"Jessica had the lead on her when they came off the last turn, Clark started closing, but with 50 meters to go Jessica went to her arms and upper body strength and ended up winning that heat," Richmond women's coach Lori Taylor said.
Young improved her NCAA provisional qualifying mark and ran the sixth fastest time in the country in the 400-meter dash this season. She narrowly missed qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Richmond junior Jonathan Molz finished sixth in the 1,500 meter run in 3:52.02. Molz went out in 59.8 seconds through 400, 2:02.7 at 800 and 3:05.1 through 1,200.
"That's an excellent race from him, he looked extremely good coming down to the finish, closed well over last 300," Steve Taylor said. "That's a nice personal best from him."
Richmond junior Hunter Willis finished eighth in the 10,000 meters, finishing in 30:38.63. That beat his previous personal best by 25 seconds as he finished two miles in 9:41.
"That's an outstanding race for him," Richmond men's coach Steve Taylor said. "He ran an extremely gutsy race, he was competitive throughout. He really put it together those last four laps."
Senior Beth Crocus threw a season best 172-feet-2 to take fourth in the open hammer throw and finished third in the javelin with a toss of 130-2.
Spider junior Kylee Schuler took eighth in the open 5,000 17:36.
Richmond freshmen Kristen Crawford and Andrew Benford did not compete because the meet was called off Saturday due to thunderstorms.
