W&M Women's Track and Field Opens the ECAC Championships Tied for Third

Betsy Graney Demolishes School Record, Qualifies for U.S. Nationals in the Steeplechase

05/15/09 9:20PM

PRINCETON, N.J. - The William and Mary women's track and field team opened the ECAC Championships Friday night with several outstanding performances, and ranks tied for third after three events. Duke leads the team standings with 19 points, while the Tribe is tied with West Virginia and Princeton at third with 10 points.

Complete First Day Results

3,000m Steeplechase
Sophomore Betsy Graney (Harper Woods, Mich.) was part of a phenomenal 3,000m steeplechase where each of the top five athletes improved on season-bests by at least 14 seconds, finishing fifth in a school-record 10:15.99 to earn All-East accolades. Graney's time surpasses her career-best by nearly 16 seconds, and improves upon the school record of 10:23.76 set by Ali Henderson '03 in her senior campaign. Graney's time improves her ranking in the NCAA lists 40 spots, from 62nd to 22nd, and places her among the top 75 athletes in the world this season. The top three finishers Friday night each qualified automatically to the U.S. Senior Championships, while Graney and the fourth-place finish each ran under the provisional-qualifying standard.

10,000m Run
Junior Sallie Ford (Lynchburg, Va.) also earned All-East honors, the first in her career, by finishing third in the 10,000m run with a career-fast time of 36:37.71. With the effort, Ford improves to 10th all-time at the College. Freshman Sara Lasker (Fredericksburg, Va.) also competed in the 25-lap race, finishing 11th in 37:55.11.

Heptathlon
Sophomore Katie Guevel (Burlington, Kan.) opened the day for W&M in the heptathlon, and stands second at the end of the first day with a career-best 3,209 points. While no personal-records were set in the individual events, Guevel competed at a very high level all day long, never finishing worse than third in any of the four competitions. She won the day's first event, the 100m hurdles, running 14.10 seconds. In the high jump, she tied for third with a season-high clearance of 5-3 (1.60 meters), and came in second in the shot put with a put of 37-10.5 (11.54m). The 200m dash closed the day, with Guevel finishing third in 25.10 seconds.

The ECAC Championships continue tomorrow, with the Tribe competing in several finals and trials events. The heptathlon will start at 9:30 a.m. and finish shortly after lunch, and the hammer throw, pole vault, and discus also crowning champions. W&M will also have entrants competing for finals spots on Sunday in three events - the 1,500m run, 800m run, and 4x800m relay.