Women's Track: Five Runners Head to NCAAs
March 11, 2004 05:14 PM | General
By Jarrod Sudduth for MSNsportsNET.com
March 11, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Five members of the West Virginia University women’s track team are set to compete in the NCAA indoor championships on Mar. 12-13 at the Randall Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
Senior Megan Metcalfe and juniors Jennifer Davis, Jennifer Kemp, Pam Richardson and Tara Struyk will represent WVU over the weekend in two events.
Metcalfe is scheduled to compete in the 3,000 meters. The Edmonton, Alberta, native looks to improve on her performance at last year’s championships where she placed fourth in the event. According to the Trackwire Dandy Dozen, Metcalfe is ranked third nationally in the 3,000 meters behind Providence’s Kim Smith and BYU’s Michaela Mannova. At the BIG EAST indoor championships, the All-American placed second in the 3,000 meters finishing 12 seconds behind Smith.
Davis, Richardson and Kemp join Metcalfe to represent West Virginia in the distance medley relay event. West Virgina only competed in the DMR once this season at the Penn State Challenge Cup where they won the event with a time of 11:15.86. WVU’s DMR team is regarded as the sixth best in the nation according to the Trackwire Dandy Dozen. Last season, the same DMR squad placed fourth at the NCAA championships granting each of the competitor’s All-American status.
West Virginia's final competitor of the weekend is junior Tara Struyk who is set to compete in the 5,000 meters. The Edmonton, Alberta, native is coming off a stellar weekend where she broke the school record in the 5,000 meters with a time of 16:22.44 en route to her first ECAC indoor championship. At the BIG EAST indoor championships, she placed second in the event with a time of 16:29.83.
The 5,000 meters begins at 7:50 p.m. on Friday, Mar. 12, with the DMR closely following at 9:10 p.m. The 3,000 meters is scheduled to get underway at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 13.
