Wheaton tracksters split appearances at Armory and Boston University

February 15, 2003

NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College men's and women's indoor track and field teams split appearances this weekend between the prestigious Armory Collegiate Invitational at the Armory Track & Field Center in New York and the FasTrack and Valentine Invitationals at Boston University in Boston.

Competing against a Division-I dominated field on Saturday at the Armory, a pair of juniors and one freshman led the Wheaton women. Juniors Amber James (Woodbury, MN/Woodbury) and Kim Spence (Barrington, NH/Dover) and freshman Aquila Williams-Judge (Boston, MA/Scituate) all placed in the top five in their respective events. James finished fourth in the 400-meter dash and in the process posted an NCAA Division III national meet automatic qualifying time of 55.35. Williams-Judge placed third in the 60-meter hurdles with an automatic standard of 8.60, while Spence also stood third in her section of the 800-meter run with a provisional time of 2:17.81.

On Friday, James paced the Lyons in the sprint events, spearheaded by an impressive third-place finish in the preliminaries of the 400-meter dash. James posted an automatic qualifying time of 55.43 in the 400M, followed by a 15th-place mark in the 200-meter dash. Junior Vernick Smith (Camden, NJ/Woodrow Wilson) also captured an automatic qualification in the 400M with a time of 56.66, while freshman Oly Wirtz (Fitchburg, MA/Fitchburg) notched a provisional time of 58.50.

First-year Kendra Leith (Holden, MA/Wachusett Regional) was also impressive, as she shattered the Wheaton school record in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:11.31, which was nearly 18 seconds faster than her performance one week ago. On the field, Williams-Judge landed a pair of provisional qualifying standards in both the long and triple jump events. She finished 13th overall in the long with a distance of 18' 5" and 16th in the triple with a mark of 37' 1". Meanwhile, at BU's Valentine Invitational, freshman Noelle Battista (Warwick, RI/Toll Gate) led the way with a fourth-place mark in the pole vault. Her 10' 8" performance earned her a provisional qualifying height.

At the Armory on the men's side, sophomore Dan Olson (Voorheesville, NY/Albany Academy) lifted Wheaton to a first-place triumph in the high jump with an NCAA Division III national meet automatic qualifying clearance of 6' 11". Junior Terry Panetta (Hicksville, NY/St. Anthony's) led Wheaton's distance runners with a fourth-place standing in his section of the 800-meter run at 1:57.69. At the FasTrack Invitational at BU on Saturday, first-year Elishia Zabel (Bristol, CT/Bristol) paced the Wheaton men in the 55-meter dash. Placing 20th overall, Zabel finished the race with a time of 6.70.

On Friday at the Armory, junior Erik Benson (Southbury, CT/Pomperaug) posted a pair of solid sprints, registering a provisional qualifying time of 49.24 in the 400-meter dash. To go along with his 18th-place standing in the 400M, Benson placed 31st in the 200M at 22.92. Panetta had Wheaton's highest placement on the day, finishing seventh in the mile at 4:20.81. On the field, junior Tyrone McClain (New Haven, CT/Hillhouse) and first-year Justin Jin (Seoul, South Korea/Newton South [MA]) finished 15th and 16th in the long jump with distances of 20' 7 1/4" and 20' 7", respectively.

Both teams will return to action on Saturday, February 22, when the men and women compete at their respective Division III Championships. The men will take to the track in Cambridge, Mass. at MIT, while the women travel to Brunswick, ME for their meet at Bowdoin.

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