Wheaton track and field garners four year-end NEWMAC awards

May 2, 2006

WORCESTER, MA- The Wheaton College men's and women's outdoor track and field squads combined to corral four year-end New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) awards Tuesday during the coaches meeting at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

For the second straight spring, junior Jennifer Harlow (East Bridgewater, MA/East Bridgewater) was named NEWMAC Athlete of the Year on the women's side based on her performance at last weekend's conference championship meet, while freshmen Jonathan Cunha (Lexington, MA/Lexington) and Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) earned top rookie honors for the men and women, respectively. Head coach Paul Souza garnered his seventh women's coach-of-the-year honor.

Harlow earned Wheaton's sixth athlete-of-the-year award since the NEWMAC's inception in 1999 after nabbing five all-conference citations during the conference championship on Saturday. She won both the 100-meter hurdles and high jump competitions while recording second-place showings in the long and triple jumps and as a member of the 4x100-meter relay foursome.

With three all-conference nods, Ezeigwe became the ninth Lyon woman to receive top rookie honors, with each award coming since 1996 when Wheaton was a member of the New England Women's Eight (NEW 8). Ezeigwe won both the 100- and 200-meter dash events, recording an NCAA Division III Championship provisional time of 12.30 in the 100M. She also joined Harlow on the 4x100-meter relay team, which came in second.

Thanks to four all-conference first-team finishes, Cunha became Wheaton's first male athlete since Dan Olson '05 in 2002 and the fourth overall to record top rookie accolades. Cunha bested the 110- and 400-meter hurdles fields, and his time of 14.77 in the 110M hurdles provisionally qualified for the NCAA meet and was 0.01 seconds off of the school record he set two weeks ago. Cunha also helped a pair of relay teams to victories, playing a hand during 4x100- and 4x400-meter relay triumphs. The 4x100M quartet came within 0.78 seconds of an NCAA provisional time and 1.39 ticks of a five-year-old school record, while the 4x400M foursome won by 5.55 seconds.

After winning top coaching laurels for a female team during each year from 1998-2003, Souza earned his seventh award this spring. Wheaton's women recorded their ninth straight conference championship, including the eighth during the NEWMAC's eight-year existence. The Lyon men came in fourth while recording their highest point total since 2001.

Wheaton's athletes are back in action Saturday at the University of Delaware Invitational.

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