University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
GMU Invitational
Spiders Wrap Up Mason Spring Invitational
04/10/2011 | Women's Track & Field
April 10, 2011
FAIRFAX, a. - The University of Richmond's track & field teams continued the outdoor season on Saturday at the Mason Spring Invitational in Fairfax, Va. Junior Meaghan McGovern highlighted the day with her first-place finish in the hammer throw.
"It was nice to see several of our younger and veteran athletes improve," said women's head coach Lori Taylor. "We had a few team members return to competition following injuries that have prevented them from competing. We're healthy and that's really critical with less than one month to the Atlantic 10 Championships."
McGovern's mark of 48.77m was good enough for first-place, while senior Monica Howard came in fourth-place (40.78m) in the hammer throw competition.
Howard also finished fourth (42.19m) in the discus, followed by redshirt-senior Heather Roush in sixth (41.70m).
In addition, Roush came in second-place in the javelin competition with a mark of 40.87m.
Senior Erin Lunny returned from previous injury to run the 5,000m race in 18:03.66.
Freshman Alli Mannon placed 14th and ran a college best time in the 800m (2:15.61).
Freshman Ann O'Toole finished seventh in the women's 400m hurdles with a time of 1:07.28. O'Toole also came in 11th-place in the shot put (8.59m), while sophomore Meghan Hart finished 12th (8.17m).
Freshman Molly Parsons competed in her first 3,000m steeplechase, finishing sixth with a time of 11:44.58.
Freshman Grace Gibson placed 10th and broke her own school record in the pole vault competition with a mark of 3.30m (her previous record was 3.25m).
As for the men, redshirt-senior Andrew Benford placed ninth and ran a person best in the 1,500m run (3:49.68). Going into the weekend, his mark ranks as the fastest 1,500m time in the Atlantic 10 this season.
Also, in the 1,500m race, sophomore Jason Skipper ran a season best (4:05.39), while freshman Patrick Love (4:06.55) and sophomore Kyle Ragan (4:06.65) set personal best times.
Freshman Adam Owens ran a personal best by over 40 seconds in the 5,000m (15:24.38), and sophomore Conor Phelan ran a personal best time of 15:29.51.
Junior Devin Cassels came in eighth-place in the pole vault with his mark of 4.15m.
Sophomore Sean Livesay placed ninth in the javelin throw competition (39.84m).
"We had several athletes achieve personal best marks in their events," said men's head coach Steve Taylor. "As we move into the middle of the outdoor season we look for our athletes to continue improving and put themselves in position to achieve marks for the NCAA Regional Championships."
The Spiders compete in Richmond, Va. next weekend at the Ram Invitational.
