University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Penn Relays (Apr. 26-29)
Crocus Sets School Record In Hammer; Young Finishes Eighth In 100 Dash At Penn Relays
04/28/2007 | Women's Track & Field
April 28, 2007
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Richmond senior Beth Crocus broke her own school record in the hammer throw and sophomore Jessica Young took eighth in the 100-meter dash at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field.
Crocus finished second in the college division hammer with a new school record toss of 185-feet-1. Her previous school record was 182-2 set last year at the Penn Relays. This was the third top-3 finish at the Penn Relays for Crocus, who won the college division javelin and finished third in the hammer throw here last spring.
"That's a tremendous throw out of Beth," Richmond women's coach Lori Taylor said. "She's been throwing better and better as the season progresses and her event coach Jermaine Jones has said she was due for a huge throw. That's a great effort and an indication of what she is capable of."
Young ran an 11.72 to finish third in her heat in the 100-meter dash and that seeded her ninth going into the finals. Young ran an 11.76 in the finals to finish eighth.
"Jessica was right at her personal best in the qualifying round, 11.72 is a good time for her," Lori Taylor said. "There's some technical aspects of her race that we will continue to work on in the coming weeks, but she's going up against the best 100-meter runners in the nation and her best event is the 400. We're very proud of her."
The Richmond men's 4x800-meter relay team of sophomore Jeff Strojny, junior Jonathan Molz, sophomore Greg Hoffman and sophomore Sean Welsh finished 22nd out of 33 teams in 7:48.20.
"That's their first experience like that, racing in front of over 50,000. They seemed to handle it well, but their time wasn't what we were looking for," Richmond men's coach Steve Taylor said. "That was not quite average. We were looking to go about 12 seconds faster. As a coach they seemed ready to race, but they just didn't get it done. They just have to get themselves ready for the conference championship."
The Spiders competed in front of 23,996 fans on Thursday, 39,166 on Friday and over 50,000 on Saturday.
"One of the things that makes the Penn Relays so unique is that it brings together the nation's top high school athletes, collegians and professionals," Steve Taylor said. "Jessica was getting ready to race on the infield and Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson were right next to her. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons was also there. The Penn Relays just bring everyone together."
The Spiders return to action next Saturday and Sunday at the 2007 Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the University of Charlotte.
