Track: Three Race in Day One at Stanford
March 28, 2009 01:02 PM | General
by Grant Dovey for MSNsportsNET.com
March 28, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Three members of the West Virginia University track and field team ran on day one of the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., yesterday, March 27.
Senior Alison Spiker, junior Clara Grandt and sophomore Ahna Lewis raced in the steeple chase, 10k and 5k, respectively.
Spiker, a Ripley, W.Va., native ran in the second heat of the steeple chase, finishing in ninth place with a time of 11:06.03. With that time, Spiker qualified for this year’s BIG EAST Championships
“The steeplechase is an event where it takes two or three shots before you find your rhythm,” Coach Sean Cleary said. “It is nice to get the BIG EAST qualifier out of the way and concentrate on qualifying for the other championships.”
In the 10k race, Grandt finished in third in the first heat with a time of 33:16.96. With that time, the West Union, W.Va., native set a new school record and received automatic bids for the BIG EAST Championships, ECAC Championships and NCAA Championships.
“Clara has been pointing to this for the last six months after representing the United States in cross country,” Cleary said. “We knew she was in her best shape ever and we’re very excited about the remainder of the season.”
A native of Morgantown, W.Va., Lewis raced in the second heat of the 5k, finishing in seventh place in a time of 16:33.79. It was Lewis’ first time running the 5k and she qualified for the BIG EAST Championships, ECAC Championships and NCAA Regional Championships.
“We came out to Stanford for Ahna to qualify for regionals and in a perfect world she had a shot,” Cleary said. “To make it by so much, it is just a testament to how her winter went.”
The Stanford Invitational will continue today with Karly Hamric running in the 800-meter race. A recap of Hamric’s race and the races at the WJU Bill Van Horne Invitational will be available this evening.
