Track: WVU Starts Indoor Season Strong
December 03, 2005 09:03 PM | General
December 3, 2005
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| Czaikowski |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University track team had several individual BIG EAST and ECAC qualifying performances to open its season at the WVU Holiday Classic Saturday, Dec. 3, in the WVU Shell Building.
“We had a solid season opener by quite a few of the veterans,” head coach Jeff Huntoon said. “I was pleased to get a lot of BIG EAST qualifiers out of the way and show signs of what we can do at regionals.”
WVU junior Jessica Czaikowski posted a BIG EAST and ECAC qualifying time of 8.53 to win the 60-meter hurdles and followed that with another BIG EAST and ECAC qualifying time of 7.70 to take the finals of the 60-meter dash. Junique Morris also qualified for the BIG EAST championships already with a 7.81 in the 60-meter dash.
Junior Halimah Bashir added to WVU’s success by capturing the 200m title with a time of 25.84.
In the distance events, Alison Spiker took the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:22.89, while teammate Maria Stover won the women’s 3,000m run with a time of 11:25.04.
In the field events, senior Nancy Regalbuto won the high jump with a height of 1.70 meters. The Hedgesville, W.Va., native then tried to break the school record by jumping 1.78 meters but couldn’t quite make it. Freshman Julie Tawney recorded a BIG EAST qualifying high jump of 1.59 meters to place third for the Mountaineers.
Senior Jen Hall took the pole vault with a BIG EAST qualifying height of 3.35m and junior Abbie Stechschulte captured the women’s long jump title with a personal best leap of 5.71 meters. Stechschulte’s long jump automatically qualified her for the BIG EAST and ECAC championships and she also placed third in the 60m hurdles and sixth in the shot put.
“I thought the newcomers looked good and its shows a lot of promise of what they might be able to do at the BIG EAST championships,” Huntoon said.
The Mountaineers' indoor season resumes on Jan. 14, when they travel to the Black Squirrel Classic in Kent, Ohio.
