Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Women's CAA Article by Rick Platt
In dominating fashion, the William and Mary women’s outdoor track team won its ninth Colonial Athletic Association team title in the past 11 years. It wasn’t close for the Friday-Saturday championship event, the 20th annual, as W&M scored 181 points to win by 59 points. The real battle came for conference runner-up honors, as UNC-Wilmington (122) edged Georgia State (120) and Northeastern (119 ½) for second. Far behind were George Mason (76 ½), Delaware (62), James Madison (57 ½), Towson (44 ½) and Virginia Commonwealth (36). More
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Platt continues said...

In addition, Tribe junior Emily Anderson was named the women’s Most Outstanding Track Performer, as she won both the 5,000 meters on Friday and the 1,500 meters on Saturday. The only other athlete with that CAA double was 11-time All-American Matt Lane for the W&M men. Previously Ali Henderson (2003), Emily Furia (’01) and Lisa Rayner (1995) had won Outstanding Performer awards for the W&M women.
Anderson had an NCAA regional-qualifying time of 4:26.54 to lead a near W&M sweep in the 1,500. Emily Schroeder was third (a PR 4:28.29), Meghan Burns fourth (4:30.90) and freshman Heather Beichner fifth (4:33.17). Anderson holds the W&M school record of 4:14.73 (from her fifth-place finish at the 2008 NCAA outdoor track meet), but Schroeder moved up to #6 on the all-time W&M list, just ahead of W&M head women’s coach Kathy Newberry (4:28.37 from 1997). Burns is #4 on that list (her 4:24.83 from ’08). Beichner qualified for the U.S. Junior Championships.
On Friday Anderson cruised to the 5,000 win with a meet record 16:40.99. Kayley Byrne was third in 16:46.20, both qualifying for the NCAA regional meet, and both under the old meet record of 16:50.19, by W&M’s Julia Cathcart in 2006. Lynn Morelli, who had already qualified for NCAA’s in March, was sixth in 16:56.05. Also on Friday was the 10,000 meters, another W&M strength, with Sallie Ford (36:44.66) and freshman Sara Lasker (36:45.06) placing second and third.
Anderson had broken the W&M record in the 5,000 meters in mid-March with a time of 16:03.15, placing ninth, and earning her second All-American honors, at the NCAA indoor championship meet. In that race, she bettered the former W&M record of 16:04.63 (by Marcie Homan, outdoors, in 1994) and the former indoor record of 16:08.02 (by Janice Brown in 1992).
Thanks to those events, and field event strength, W&M had a 68-52 ½ point lead over UNC-Wilmington after the first day, a lead never relinquished. Nicole Kazuba won the pole vault for the third straight year, tying her school record of 13-1 ½ (4.00 meters), breaking the CAA record, and qualifying for the NCAAs. Emily Jeremiah also bettered the previous conference mark (12-7 ½ ) with her PR 12-9 ½, also an NCAA qualifier, and the #3 performance ever for W&M.
Also Friday was the hammer throw where Ashley Williams was second in 162-5, Abby Lemon fourth (160-1) and freshman Natalie Baird fifth (154-1, the W&M freshman record, breaking Lemon’s mark). Lemon (the W&M school record 175-0 from 2008), Williams (163-1) and Baird are now 1-2-5 on the all-time W&M list in the hammer, all coached by Dan Stimson, the W&M track director, whose daughter Krista Stimson once held the school record (148-3 in 1996).
Baird also owns the W&M freshman records in the shot put and discus, and the school record in the discus (152-10), although she was just at 141-3 (for 3rd) at the CAAs. She was part of a 1-2-3 sweep by the Tribe in the CAA shot put. Ashley Williams won with a PR 44-7, Carly Morse was second (44-3 ¼) and Baird third (43-7 ¾), all three in the top eight all-time for W&M.
Also winning conference titles were Betsy Graney in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Katie Guevel in the heptathlon. Graney, last year’s CAA Rookie of the Year, won the steeple in an NCAA qualifying 10:50.07. The 2008 CAA champion, Emily Arena, was third this year in 11:04.53. Graney (10:31.47 from 2008) is #2 on the all-time W&M list.
Guevel defended her title in the seven-event heptathlon, and provisionally qualified for the NCAAs with 5,051 points, close to her PR of 5,158. Her events included the 100-meter hurdles (14.03), high jump (5-1), shot put (a PR 38-11), 200 meters (25.30), long jump (16-3), javelin (123-11) and 800 meters (2:28.09), winning five of the seven events, and 560 points ahead of the runner-up.
In other events, Ashley Madonick was second in the 400 meters in a school record 55.11, breaking the previous mark of 55.44 by Uche Uwah in 1986. She had also PR’d in the prelims with a 55.91. Ariel Burbey (a PR 2:11.23, #9 all-time for W&M) and Kelly McElroy (2:11.76) were second and third in the 800 meters. Dana Harvey ran a PR 1:02.64 (#2 all-time for W&M) in the 400-meter hurdles to place sixth, just ahead of her 1:02.72 in the prelims.
All CAA championships automatically qualified for the NCAAs, and the top three in each event made the all-CAA team.

April 21, 2009 at 8:29 PM

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