Cunha and Harlow record NCAA qualifying times at Wesleyan Invitational

January 27, 2007

MIDDLETOWN, CT- Senior Jennifer Harlow (East Bridgewater, MA/East Bridgewater) and sophomore Jonathan Cunha (Lexington, MA/Lexington) each reached NCAA Championship provisional qualification times as the Wheaton College men's and women's indoor track and field teams combined for eight event victories during the non-scoring Wesleyan University Invitational on Saturday in Bacon Field House.

Harlow won both the high jump and 55-meter hurdles competitions. Her top leap was 5' 3", while her 55M hurdles time of 8.46 met a provisional standard, tied for the best in New England this season and bettered the time she recorded during the preliminary round by 0.27 seconds.

Sophomores Lily Calderwood (Harvard, MA/Bromfield School) and Natana Jules (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) won the mile and 800-meter run events, respectively, in 5:22.85 and 2:23.00. The duo joined classmates Celeste Karpow (Wilton, CT/Wilton) and Christine Moreau (Lincoln, RI/Lincoln) on the victorious 4x400M relay team. Freshman Renee Thompson (Hartford, CT/Weaver) won the 400M dash in 59.43, followed by classmate Kamia Smith (Cincinnati, OH/Cincinnati Country Day School) in second. Sophomore Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) notched New England's top 55M time this season at 7.35 during a fourth-place finish, as she was just 0.02 seconds off an NCAA provisional time.

Junior Joell Whitley (Magnolia, NJ/Triton Regional) picked up second-place showings in each the long and triple jumps. During the triple, Whitley's distance of 36' 5 1/2" was 2 3/4" shy of an NCAA provisional standard. Freshman Courtney Opalenik (Greenfield, MA/Northfield Mount Hermon School) tied for second in the pole vault, while senior Katelyn Gannon (Shrewsbury, MA/Shrewsbury) tied for fourth in her first pole vault competition.

A quartet of athletes rounded out Wheaton's top-five finishers. Junior Megan Brousseau (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) was fourth in the mile, Thompson and Smith went four-five in the 200-meter dash as the event's top New England finishers, while Karpow was fifth in the 500M. Moreau and freshman Brittany Pierce (Andover, MA/Andover) also each qualified for the 55-meter hurdles final.

On the men's side, freshman Howard Powell (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) won the 55-meter hurdles in a time of 7.83, which was just 0.04 seconds shy of a seven-year-old program record and 0.08 ticks short of an NCAA provisional time. Cunha picked up his NCAA time during a 400-meter dash victory in 49.50, while freshman Merzudin Ibric (Revere, MA/Phillips Academy) was second in the event at 50.40.

Sophomore Kyle Greenidge (Dorchester, MA/Newton North) came in second during the long jump, as his 21' 6 1/4" leap was just two inches off the pace. Junior Pat Benson (Foxboro, MA/Bishop Feehan) was fifth in the 800M, finishing 1.18 seconds shy of the winner, while sophomore Michael Wright (Baldwin, NY/Uniondale) was fifth in the 55-meter dash. Sophomore Albi Skenderi (Glendale, NY/Grover Cleveland) and freshman Mark Cimino (Danbury, CT/Danbury) qualified for the finals of the 55-meter hurdles and dash, respectively.

Wheaton's squads travel next Friday and Saturday to the two-day New Balance Collegiate Invitational at the New York City Armory.

Complete Results

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