WVU Qualifies Three For Finals
May 05, 2007 07:02 PM | General
May 5, 2007
STORRS, Conn. – West Virginia University’s track and field team is in a fifth place after the second day of competition at the BIG EAST Championship at the Sherman Family Sports Complex in Storrs, Conn.
Louisville leads the pack with 38.5 points. The Mountaineers earned 20 points for their current standing.
“We are definitely ahead of where I thought we would be right now, which is fantastic,” says coach Jeff Huntoon. “We have some strong finals ahead of us tomorrow and we are in a good position to finish near our goal of fifth place.”
WVU’s first points came with senior Abbie Stechschulte’s third place finish in the heptathlon. The Columbus Grove, Ohio, native finished with 5,525 points, surpassing the stadium’s record of 5,410 points.
Stechschulte entered today’s final three events in second place, trailing Syracuse’s Jillian Drouin by 220 points. She was never able to catch Drouin, the eventual winner with 5,890 points. Stechschulte took fourth in the long jump (5.91 meters), fifth in the javelin (35.53 meters) and fifth in the 800 meter run (2:26.53).
Stechschulte did compete again, earning three more points with her sixth place finish in the long jump with a leap of 5.79 meters.
Freshman Kristen Loughry had a stellar first outing at the Championship, taking second in the pole vault with an ECAC qualifying leap of 3.65 meters.
“Kristen’s finish was a great surprise for us today,” Huntoon says. “She had a phenomenal first attempt which helped her a lot. She’s been a great competitor all season and she proved it today.”
Sophomore Clara Grandt ended the day with a fifth place finish in the 10,000 meter run, stopping the clock at 35:38.
Three Mountaineers qualified for tomorrow’s finals in four different events. Senior Jessica Czaikowski will run in the 200 meter dash (24.16), the 100 meter dash (11.65) and the 100 meter hurdles (13.36). The Tottenham, Ontario, native’s time in the 200 was an ECAC qualifier, while her times in the dash and the hurdles were NCAA Regional qualifiers.
“Jess had a long day, but it was a great, productive day,” says Huntoon. “She had a good hurdles race and got over the hump, which was very important.”
Freshmen Keri Bland (4:25.92) and Marie Louise Asselin (4:30.59) will compete in the 1,500 meter run finals.
“I’m pleased as punch with those two,” says Huntoon. “It’s fantastic to have both of them in the finals. They each looked good today, which bodes well for tomorrow.”
Eight other Mountaineers competed today at the Championship. On the track, April Rotilio finished 17th in the 200 meter dash (24.90), Brittany Hohn took 22nd in the 100 meter dash, Jamillah Nock finished 18th in the 100 meter hurdles (14.91), Loughry followed at 19th (14.94), and Alison Spiker (17th, 4:37.54), Karly Hamric (18th, 4:37.58) and Maria Stover-Bartlett (20th, 4:44.24) all participated in the 1,500 meter run.
In the field, Rachel Goodman just missed qualifying in the javelin, finishing 17th with a throw of 34.73 meters.
The Championship will conclude tomorrow, May 6. The awards ceremony is scheduled to begin at 2:50 p.m.
