Eight event winners and four meet record-setting performances lead Lyons to second place finish at NCAA Division III New England Championship; Benson and Olson pace Wheaton men with fifth place showing

May 4, 2002

NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College women's track and field team posted eight event wins and four meet record-setting performances en route to a second-place finish at Saturday's NCAA Division III New England Championship held at Blake Track on the campus of Springfield College. The Lyons finished with 133.5 points, falling short of team champion Williams. On the men's side, Wheaton placed fifth overall with 43 points at the Plansky Track in Williamstown. Rounding out the top four teams was Williams, MIT, Bowdoin and Springfield, respectively.

Setting new meet records for the women included junior Kerry Teamey (Klamath Falls, OR) in the pole vault, sophomore Amber James (Woodbury, MN) in the 100-meter dash, first-year Tessa Donoghue (Springfield, MA) in the long jump and Wheaton 4x400-meter relay team. James, who also captured the 200-meter dash in an NCAA Division III national meet provisional qualifying time of 24.83, posting a blazing speed of 12.16 in the 100M event, a time also good enough for a provisional qualifier.

Nearly sweeping two of the three jumping events, Donoghue won the long jump with a distance of 18' 8 1/2" and then placed second overall in the triple jump with a mark of 38' 2", as she hit provisional qualifying standards in both. For the first time this season, Teamey set a national meet automatic qualifying vault of 12' even, defeating her next closet competitor by almost an entire foot. Teamey placed third overall at the Penn Relays just over a week ago. Wheaton's 4x400-meter relay team, comprised of senior Niara Woods (Philadelphia, PA), James, Donoghue and freshman Jessica Allegra (East Hampton, CT), also automatically qualified in 3:50.74.

Other than James, junior Noreen Kordzeil (Chittenango, NY) was the only other double-event winner for the Lyons, as she led the pack with provisional qualifying times in both the 100-meter high hurdle and 400-meter low hurdle events. Rounding out Wheaton's event champions was senior Kate Getz (Cumberland, ME) in the high jump, clearing 5' 3". First-year Katherine Wallace (Glenmoore, PA) was the runner-up to Getz, as she also posted an identical height in the high jump. Other top five placements came from sophomore Kim Spence (Dover, NH) with a third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles and freshman Kirsten Larsen (Hampden, MA) with a fifth-place mark in the javelin.

Sophomore Erik Benson (Southbury, CT) and freshman Dan Olson (Voorheesville, NY) paced the Wheaton men with a pair of championships in the 200-meter dash and high jump, respectively. Provisionally qualifying for the national meet, Benson finished in a time of 21.83 seconds. Yet to lose an event all spring, Olson once again set an automatic qualifying mark with the top jump of 6' 11 3/4". The Lyons' 4x400-meter relay team was also strong, as Benson along with senior Ray Smith (Providence, RI), sophomore Tyrone McClain (New Haven, CT) and freshman Adam Walker (Westfield, NJ) placed second with an impressive time of 3:18.68.

For complete women's results of the NCAA Division III New England Championship, go to http://www.spfldcol.edu/homepage.nsf/594e458ccefe10b78525639c0054abe7/cdbf30a16d78e1fc85256bae006daf3f/$FILE/Print1.htm. For complete results of the Wheaton College men, visit http://wso.williams.edu/orgs/track/results/outdoor_ne3_men_2002/results.txt.

Last updated on 5/5/02.
Send questions about this page to Scott Dietz or contact Wheaton College.

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