William and Mary Women's Track and Field Wins Colonial Relays Team Title

Four Golds, One Meet Record Push Tribe Past Seton Hall

04/04/09 10:15PM

WILLIAMSBURG - The William and Mary women’s track and field team won four gold medals and set a Colonial Relays record Saturday, a tally matched by the Pirates of Seton Hall, but superior down-the-line performances put the Tribe on top of the team standings 118.33-108. The Georgetown Hoyas took third with 84 points. Every team and athlete competed very well, achieving 65 qualifying marks over the two days of competition. 55 athletes and relays punched a ticket to the ECAC Championships, eight to the NCAA East Regionals, and two Tribe freshmen qualified to the U.S. Junior National Championships in June.

Complete Final Results
Team Scores

Hammer Throw
The day got started with a 9:30 a.m. start to the women’s hammer throw, where W&M senior Abby Lemon (Berryville, Va.) won her second championship with a throw of 166-1. Two years ago, Lemon took her first gold medal with a then-record throw of 161-3. Junior Ashley Williams (Williamsburg, Va.) took the silver with a throw of 163-1, a personal-record effort that ranks her second all-time at the College. Bucknell’s Chelsey Musante finished third with a throw of 162-6, as all three women qualified for the ECAC Championships. W&M freshman Natalie Baird (Sterling, Va.) threw a personal-best 144-7 for 11th place, and ranks eighth all-time at W&M.

Pole Vault
William and Mary junior Nicole Kazuba (Chantilly, Va.) successfully defended her crown in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 12-7.5 to qualify for the NCAA Regional and ECAC Championships. Her vault also broke the Relays record of 12-4, set in 2003 by Yale’s Molly Lederman, and tied Kazuba’s own stadium record that she set last year at the CAA Championships. Her teammate, sophomore Emily Jeremiah (Mechanicsville, Va.) finished second with an ECAC-qualifying vault of 12-3.5, tying her own outdoor-best set at the ECAC meet last year and again last week at the Fred Hardy Invitational. Buffalo’s Tiffany Maskulinski finished third and qualified to the ECAC Championships with her vault of 11-11.75.

High Jump
Natalie Miller of St. Joseph’s emerged the victor in the high jump, qualifying for the ECAC meet with a jump of 5-7 to finish ahead of seven competitors that cleared 5-2.5. Navy’s Christine Scales needed the fewest attempts of all to clear that height and took the silver medal, while Allison Smith of St. Joseph’s was declared the third-place finisher. W&M sophomore Katie Guevel (Burlington, Kan.) was in the pack at 5-2.5, claiming fifth place and two valuable points for the team.

Discus Throw
William and Mary’s strong day in the field continued with freshman standout Natalie Baird winning her first collegiate Relays crown with a throw of 149-3. In 2007, the last Colonial Relays that high schools competed at, Baird won both the shot put and the discus. Saturday’s effort qualified her to both the ECAC meet and the U.S. Junior Championships. Buffalo’s Tina Villa was second with an ECAC-qualifying throw of 144-0, and Bucknell’s Chelsey Musante was third at 135-3.

4x800m Relay
Seton Hall won its first title of the day in the 4x800m relay, as the team of Chavanne Hubbard, Alexandra McCoy, KeAira Dickerson, and Clarrise Moh won in an ECAC-qualifying 8:47.87. The time was just 13 hundredths of a second off of the meet record, set in 1988 by Villanova. Georgetown also qualified for the ECAC Championships in 9:00.26, and St. Joseph’s was third in 9:17.23. William and Mary finished fifth, as the team of Brittany Sevachko (Centreville, Va.), Glennis Lofland (Crozier, Va.), Avery Mattingly (Blacksburg, Va.), and Meredith Tighe (Oak Hill, Va.) ran the two miles in 9:32.46.

4x100m Relay
The top six teams all qualified for the ECAC Championships in the 4x100m relay, as Seton Hall won its second relay title of the afternoon in 46.18. The championship team included Shameka Speed, Toneisha Friday, Jernail Hayes, and Adama Pitts. Virginia Commonwealth was second in 47.55, and Georgetown took third in 47.99 seconds. William and Mary was sixth, qualifying to the ECAC Championships by matching the required time exactly, 48.34 seconds. The qualifying team was Dan Harvey (Mechanicsville, Va.), Elizabeth Crowley (Blue Point, N.Y.), Mallory Hogan (West Hartford, Conn.), and Guevel.

Triple Jump
Buffalo’s Fatimah Hill won the triple jump and qualified for the ECAC Championships with her leap of 40-0.5, well ahead of silver-medalist Danay Spencer of Long Island (38-9.75). James Madison’s Jaclyn Smith was third with a leap of 38-1.25.

Distance Medley Relay
All-Americans propelled their teams to outstanding performances in the distance medley relay, led by Virginia Tech’s duo of Jess Fanning and Natalie Sherbak who team with freshmen Taylore Williams and Lauren Lemieux to win gold in 11:39.67. Renee Tomlin was the headliner on the 800m leg for Georgetown’s second-place team that finished in 11:43.68, and William and Mary’s Emily Anderson (Golf, Ill.) anchored the Tribe to third place in a time of 11:46.11. Anderson’s mile leg was preceded by Meghan Burns (Coopersburg, Pa.), Ashley Madonick (Seaside Park, N.J.), and Kelly McElroy (Wyomissing, Pa.).

Shuttle Hurdle Relay
Seton Hall won its third relay of the day in the rare Shuttle Hurdle Relay, clocking 1:01.00 to break the stadium and meet records of 1:01.81 set by W&M back in 2003. The winning team was Shameka Speed, Jernail Hayes, Alexandra Hehn, and Chariise Bryant. Bucknell was second in 1:04.38, with St. Joseph’s took third in 1:05.32.

100m Dash Finals
Ashlynn DeCruise of Mount St. Mary’s was only the fourth seed coming out of preliminaries in the 100m dash yesterday, but she turned it on today to win the sprint in 12.04 seconds. DeCruise was 12 hundredths of a second ahead of second-place Shameka Speed of Seton Hall (12.16), and qualified to the ECAC Championships with her performance. Georgetown’s Sarah Wernik was third with a time of 12.35 seconds.

Shot Put
While the relays continued on the track, over at the Stimson Throwing Events Area Tina Villa of Buffalo won her first Colonial Relays championship with a put of 47-6.5. Villa qualified to the NCAA Regional with her effort, and also to the ECAC Championships. Teammate Kristy Woods also qualified for ECACs with her second-place performance of 45-1.5, and the Tribe’s Williams was third with a put of 44-7. William’s put was a career-best, and moves her up to seventh all-time at William and Mary.

4x200m Relay
Georgetown took the title in the 4x200m relay, as the team of Abigail Johnson, London Finley, Sarah Wernik, and Sarah Lorch completed one-half mile in 1:38.89. Mount St. Mary’s was second in 1:39.33, and Virginia Commonwealth was third in 1:40.38. William and Mary was just shy of the school record in fifth place, timing 1:41.09 (record in 1:40.91) to win the second heat. The Tribe’s team was Harvey, Madonick, Hogan, and Guevel.

4x1,500m Relay
William and Mary’s team title was locked up in the 4x1,500m relay, as the team of Heather Beichner (Cary, N.C.), Emily Schroeder (Midlothian, Va.), Kayley Byrne (Oak Hill, Va.), and Lynn Morelli (Philadelphia, Pa.) cruised to a 15-second victory in 18:47.40. CAA-rivals Delaware was second in 19:02.19, and Iona claimed bronze in 19:09.69.

4x400m Relay
Seton Hall made one last push, however, winning the 4x400m relay with its "A" team of Alexandra McCoy, Toneisha Friday, Clarrise Moh, and Jernail Hayes in an NCAA Regional and ECAC-qualifying time of 3:39.59 and also taking third in 3:48.66 with its "B" team. Howard split the Pirates in second place, running 3:44.96. The top seven teams all ran under the ECAC standard.

William and Mary is back in action next Friday and Saturday, April 10-11, at the Lou Onesty Invitational in Charlottesville, Virginia.