Track: WVU Primed for National Open
January 28, 2005 12:44 PM | General
By Jarrod Sudduth for MSNsportsNET.com
January 28, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s track team faces its stiffest challenge of the season when it travels to State College, Pa., on Sept. 28-29, to compete in the Penn State National Open.
West Virginia, ranked 20th in the latest Trackwire top 25 poll, is one of many big name programs competing in the meet. Competitors from No. 1 Tennessee, No. 12 Miami, No. 24 Maryland, Virginia, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, No. 15 Villanova and Penn State are also scheduled to compete.
West Virginia looks to post a solid group of performances at Penn State for the second consecutive weekend. The Mountaineers won three events at last week’s PSU Quadrangular in the mile, 3,000 meters and 55 meter hurdles.
Leading West Virginia into action this weekend is sophomore Jessica Czaikowski, who has won at least one event title in every meet this season. The Tottenham, Ontario, native won the 55 meter hurdles at the WVU Holiday Classic, the 60 meter hurdles and dash at the Black Squirrel Classic and the 55 meter hurdles at last week’s PSU Quadrangular. Through just three meets, the 2004 national outdoor qualifier has posted two NCAA provisional times in the hurdles.
Veterans Pam Richardson, Kenyetta Conway, Rhea Mann, Halimah Bashir, Shani Boone, Nancy Regalbuto and Abbie Stechschulte have also had promising early season starts and will look to post strong performances this weekend.
The meet, held at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track, is scheduled to run Friday from noon to 9:05 p.m. and Saturday from 9:15 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
