James leads Lyons to best finish at All-New England Championship; Women take the bronze while Wheaton men place 12th overall

May 11, 2002

DEDHAM, MA- The Wheaton College women's track and field team was firing on all cylinders Saturday, as the Lyons posted their best finish ever at the All-New England Championship competition held at Northeastern University's Solomon Track. Wheaton compiled 80 points for a third-place standing behind Division I powers University of Connecticut (134) and Northeastern (95.5). The men finished in a tie for 12th place with Keene State College. Northeastern was the team champion with 107.5 points.

Sophomore Amber James (Woodbury, MN) led the pack for the Lyons with an amazing three first-place triumphs in the 200 and 400-meter dash events and 4x400-meter relay. Meeting the NCAA Division III national meet automatic qualifying standards in each event, James bested the field with a finals time of 24.64 seconds in the 200-meter dash and 54.84 seconds in the 400M event. In the preliminaries of the 200M dash, James fell four-hundredths of a second off the school mark. She then went onto anchor the relay team that finished in a blazing time of 3:47.92, nearly two seconds better than the foursome from Northeastern. Joining James was senior Niara Woods (Philadelphia, PA), sophomore Kim Spence (Dover, NH) and freshman Tessa Donoghue (Springfield, MA).

The Lyons also shattered a pair of school records, led by Woods in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:14.03, a finish good enough for third place overall. First-year Erin O'Brien (North Easton, MA) was the other Wheaton athlete to break her own mark, this time coming in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:39.77. Both Woods and O'Brien met provisional qualifying times in their respective events. In addition to Woods and O'Brien posting strong performances, Donoghue registered a trio of top-five marks in the 400-meter dash and long and triple jumps. Donoghue placed third in the long with a provisional distance of 18' 11 3/4", fourth in the triple jump with an automatic qualifying mark of 39' 5 1/4" and fifth in the 400M event in a provisional time of 57.95. Finishing fourth in the triple, Donoghue was a mere half inch short of teammate Shimera Daniels (Brentwood, NY).

Rounding out the list of provisional qualifying performances was junior Kerry Teamey (Klamath Falls, OR) with a third-place vault of 11' 6 1/4", junior Kristen Cullen (Stoneham, MA) in the 100-meter high hurdles, junior Noreen Kordzeil (Chittenango, NY) with a third-place time of 1:04.39 in the 400-meter low hurdles, Spence also in the 400M hurdles, junior Jana Bromell (Spencer, MA) in the shot put and freshman Kirsten Larsen (Hampden, MA) in the javelin.

Leading the way for the men was freshman Dan Olson (Voorheesville, NY) and senior Rahiem Greenridge (Wyandanch, NY), as the tandem combined for a one-two finish in the high jump. Each cleared NCAA Division III national meet automatic qualifying heights of 7' 1", respectively. Also attributing to Wheaton's team total was sophomore Erik Benson (Southbury, CT) with a provisional qualifying time of 48.62 in the 400-meter dash. He finished higher than any other Division III athlete with a seventh-place mark overall. Sophomore Stan Pyle (S. Portland, ME) took care of Wheaton's distance running, as he posted a sixth-place standing in the 5,000-meter run in 15:01.46. Senior Ray Smith (Providence, RI) rounded out Wheaton's scoring with a seventh-place finish in the long jump.

For complete results, go to http://www.gonu.com/wtrack/2002/neoutdoor.htm.

Last updated on 5/14/02.
Send questions about this page to Scott Dietz or contact Wheaton College.

News Headlines.

Wheaton reorganizes track and field staff, Souza and Mangiacotti named co-head coaches (more)

Three Wheaton track and field athletes earn national academic honors, both men's and women's squads draw accolades from USTFCCCA (more)

Three Wheaton track and field athletes meet NCAA standards, school record falls at ECAC Championship (more)