Women's track and field captures seventh annual Wheaton Invitational; Men finish second overall

February 1, 2003

NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College women's indoor track and field team posted eight first-place finishes Saturday afternoon, as the Lyons captured the seventh annual Wheaton Invitational at Haas Athletic Center's Beard Field House. Winning its seventh championship in as many years, the women posted an impressive 193 points overall, which was 73.5 points better than Division I Holy Cross. The men also posted a number of strong performances, placing second out of 10 teams with 97 points. Westfield State collected the team championship with 127 points.

On the women's side, the Lyons dominated the sprinting events, led by junior Amber James (Woodbury, MN/Woodbury), who won the 55-meter dash in an NCAA Division III national meet provisional qualifying time of 7.19. James also captured the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.17. Also placing in the 55-meter dash was first-year athletes Aquila Williams-Judge (Boston, MA/Scituate) and Aspen James (Woodbury, MN/Woodbury). Williams-Judge finished the sprint in second place with a provisional qualifying time of 7.24, while Aspen placed fourth overall in 7.40. Junior Vernick Smith (Camden, NJ/Woodrow Wilson) and Aspen James also posted strong performances in the 200-meter dash, with Smith finishing third at 26.50 and James sixth at 26.74.

In the 55-meter hurdles, Williams-Judge and senior captain Kristen Cullen (Stoneham, MA/Stoneham) posted the top two times, with Williams-Judge achieving an NCAA Division III national meet automatic qualifying time of 8.11. Cullen scored a provisional qualifying time of 8.65, although in an earlier heat, she finished with a time of 8.63. Placing third overall was senior captain Noreen Kordzeil (Chittenango, NY/Chittenango). Williams-Judge rounded out her day with a victory in the long jump, leaping to a provisional qualifying mark of 18' 10".

The Blue and White also posted a clean sweep in the relay events, capturing the 4x200-meter, 4x400-meter and distance medley relay events. In the 4x200M, Williams-Judge and Smith teamed with the James' sisters for a time of 1:41.92, which was a mere 37-hundredths of a second off the school mark.

The 4x400M team, comprised of Kordzeil, senior Jana Bromell (Spencer, MA/David Prouty) and sophomores Jessica Allegra (East Hampton, CT/East Hampton) and Kathrine Wallace (Glenmoore, PA/The Hill School) captured the event with a provisional time of 4:00.97. Junior Kim Spence (Barrington, NH/Dover) along with a trio of first-year athletes in Kendra Leith (Holden, MA/Wachusett Regional), Christina Langevin (Wilbraham, MA/Minnechaug Regional) and Oly Wirtz (Fitchburg, MA/Fitchburg) earned top honors in the distance medley relay in 12:54.73.

Wheaton captured three of the top four times in the 600-meter dash, with Wirtz victorious in a time of 1:38.63, while Smith (1:40.44) and Kordzeil (1:43.61) finished in second and fourth place, respectively. Other strong performances came from Bromell's second and third-place performances in the weight throw and shot put, respectively, Spence's third-place finish in the 800-meter dash, Leith's bronze in the 1,500-meters and senior captain Kerry Teamey's (Klamath Falls, OR/Henley) third-place standing and provisional result in the pole vault.

The men posted six event victories on the afternoon, with junior Erik Benson (Southbury, CT/Pomperaug) leading the way, as he won the 200 and 600-meter events with times of 22.56 and 1:22.72, respectively. Junior Adam Walker (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) won the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.71. Benson and Walker also keyed Wheaton's winning 4x400-meter relay team in 3:26.83.

In the distance events, junior Terry Panetta (Hicksville, NY/St. Anthony's) captured the 1,500-meter title in 4:07.16 and finished second in the 3,000M run with a time of 9:15.87. Junior Tyrone McClain (New Haven, CT/Hillhouse) captured the long jump title with a distance of 22' 4 1/2".

Other strong performances came from freshman Ajay Sisodia's (Andover, MA/Andover) third-place finish in the 200-meter dash, sophomore Dan Olson's (Vorrheesville, NY/Albany Academy) silver and NCAA Division III national meet automatic qualifying height in the high jump and first-year Justin Jin's (Seoul, South Korea/Newton North) third-place mark in the long jump and fourth-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles.

The men and women will next take to the track on Saturday, February 8, when they travel to Medford, Mass. to compete in the Tufts Invitational. Meet time is set for 9:00 a.m.

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Upcoming Schedule

11-Jan Sun Dartmouth Relays 9:00am
17-Jan Sat Sorlien Invitational 12:00pm
23-24-Jan Fri-Sat Terrier Classic 11:00am