Women's track and field captures ECAC Division III Championship; Men finish 13th overall

March 8, 2003

MEDFORD, MA- The Wheaton College women's indoor track and field team captured the 2003 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Championship at the Tufts University Gantcher Center Saturday. Recording 73 points, the Lyons finished seven points ahead of second place Colby College. The men placed 13th overall, registering 24 points on the afternoon. The College of New Jersey won the men's title, 43.5 points in front of runner-up RPI.

The women were paced by freshman Aquila Williams-Judge (Boston, MA/Scituate) and junior Vernick Smith (Camden, NJ/Woodrow Wilson), each of whom scored points in two events over the two-day meet. On Friday, Williams-Judge won the long jump with an NCAA Division III national meet automatic qualifying leap of 5.81 meters. Saturday, she finished fourth in the 55-meter dash with a provisional qualifying time of 7.22. Smith finished second in the 200-meter dash along with a fifth place mark and provisional qualifying time of 7.23 in the 55-meter dash.

Also posting a victory for the women was junior Amber James (Woodbury, MN/Woodbury), who won the 200-meter dash in a time of 24.91. James scored a provisional qualifying time in the preliminaries of the 55-meter dash (7.32). Another provisional time was reached in the 55M dash by Aspen James (Woodbury, MN/Woodbury). In the preliminaries of the event, Aspen ran the sprint in 7.21. She finished eighth in the finals with a time of 7.38.

Other provisional marks came from senior captain Kerry Teamey (Klamath Falls, OR/Henley) and freshman Noelle Battista (Warwick, RI/Toll Gate) in the pole vault, senior captains Noreen Kordzeil (Chittenango, NY/Chittenango) and Kristen Cullen (Stoneham, MA/Stoneham) in the 55-meter hurdles, sophomore Tessa Donoghue (Springfield, MA/Cathedral) in the triple jump and junior captain Kim Spence (Barrington, NH/Dover) in the 800-meter run.

On the men's side, sophomore Dan Olson (Voorheesville, NY/Albany Academy) continued to dominate the Division III men's high jump circuit by collecting the top finish with a leap of 2.14 meters. Olson has been the top collegiate competitor in 10 of the 11 meets he entered this year. Also posting a strong performance was junior Terry Panetta (Hicksville, NY/St. Anthony's), who broke Kevin Bullock's 1999 record in the 1,500-meter run with a second place time of 3:57.98. Junior Erik Benson (Southbury, CT/Pomperaug finished eighth in the 200-meter dash, while the 4x400-meter relay team of Panetta, Benson, sophomore Adam Walker (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) and freshman Ajay Sisodia (Andover, MA/Andover) finished fourth in 3:22.03.

Both the men and the women will next travel to DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana for the NCAA Division III Championships on Friday, March 14 through Saturday, March 15. The women will look to capture their fifth consecutive indoor title, which would make them the first team since Division I powerhouse Louisiana State University won five consecutive indoor track and field championships (1993-97). The men will seek to better their fourth place mark from a year ago.

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