Track: Stechschulte Places 2nd in Pentathlon
February 19, 2005 08:49 PM | General
February 19, 2005
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| Stechschulte |
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The West Virginia University women’s track team is in ninth place after day one of the BIG EAST indoor championships on Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.
Through six events, the Mountaineers have compiled a total of 10 points. Pitt leads all teams with 66.5 points while Boston College (37), Notre Dame (29), Georgetown (23) and Rutgers (16) round out the top five.
Seven West Virginia athletes qualified for Sunday’s finals in their respective events. The Mountaineers also recorded a second and seventh place finish in two of Saturday’s finals.
Sophomore Abbie Stechschulte placed second in the pentathlon after compiling an ECAC total of 3,635 points. The Columbus Grove, Ohio, native’s effort in the event was highlighted by a first place finish in the long jump where she recorded a leap of 5.58 meters.
Stechschulte also fared well in the shot put and 60 meter hurdles. In the shot, she placed second with a throw of 11.95 meters. She registered a time of 8.88 to achieve a third place finish in the hurdles.
Senior Devon Plesuk was the recipient of a seventh place finish in the finals of the 5,000 meters. The Calgary, Alberta, native crossed the line in an ECAC time of 17:12.46 en route to her top ten finish.
Sophomore Alexis Noel finished ninth in the long jump finals with a jump of 5.66 meters. In the finals of the weight throw, junior Michele McGinnis finished 19th with a toss of 13.09 meters.
West Virginia finished one spot away from qualifying for the finals of both the 60 and 200 meter dashes. Despite posting an ECAC time in the 60 meter dash, junior Junique Morris was unable to qualify for the finals after placing ninth in the preliminaries. Sophomore Shani Boone suffered the same fate, finishing ninth in the 200 meter prelims with a time of 25.15.
In the 400 meter prelims, sophomore Halimah Bashir advanced to Sunday’s finals with a sixth place finish and a time of 57.81. Senior Pam Richardson posted the second best time of the day (1:14.81) en route to qualifying for the finals of the 500 meters.
Junior Susan Davis (7th) and freshman Alison Spiker (8th) qualified for the finals of the mile run after posting times of 5:03.38 and 5:03.86 respectively. Senior Jennifer Kemp coasted through the preliminaries of the 800 meters with a third place finish and an ECAC qualifying time of 2:13.45.
In the 1,000 meter prelims, senior Jennifer Davis placed second with an ECAC qualifying time of 2:54.78 to easily advance to Sunday’s finals. Sophomore Jessica Czaikowski advanced to the finals of the 60 meter hurdles after posting an ECAC time of 8.51 to finish fourth in the preliminaries.
“We are in solid position heading into Sunday’s events,” coach Jeff Huntoon says. “We have a lot of girls who are just getting over being sick and we have others that are just starting to get sick. They have responded well though and we feel like we have the potential to score some major points tomorrow.”
Sunday’s track events are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. with the field events getting underway at 9:15 a.m. The weekend’s championships will conclude with an awards ceremony at 3 p.m.
