Pair of Wheaton athletes notch wins at All New England Championship

February 24, 2007

BOSTON, MA- A pair of athletes won events, and five NCAA Championship standards were met as the Wheaton College men's and women's indoor track and field teams completed competition at the two-day All New England Championship on Saturday in Boston University's Track and Tennis Center. The Lyon men finished 13th out of 32 scoring teams from the NCAA's three divisions with 13 points, while the Blue and White women were 14th of 30 squads with 21 points. The University of Connecticut was victorious on both sides, as the women had 153 points and the men 149.

Freshman Merzudin Ibric (Revere, MA/Phillips Academy) provided a highlight for the Wheaton men by winning the 400-meter dash in a time of 48.24, which provisionally qualified him for the national meet. He beat out five Division I athletes, two from Division II and a fellow Division III competitor during the finals. Sophomore All-American Jonathan Cunha (Lexington, MA/Lexington) also qualified for the 400M finals.

Freshman Howard Powell (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) turned in a school-record performance during his sixth-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles, as Powell's time of 7.78 broke a seven-year-old program standard by 0.01 seconds and was 0.03 ticks off an NCAA provisional time. During the 200-meter dash trials, sophomore All-American Michael Wright (Baldwin, NY/Uniondale) came within 0.01 seconds of his own school record with a 21.87 showing and qualified for the finals.

On the women's side, senior All-American Jennifer Harlow (East Bridgewater, MA/East Bridgewater) continued to dominate the high jump event with a personal best of 5' 8 3/4", which was the best in the nation this winter. She won the competition and posted her third automatic qualifying performance for the NCAA meet thus far this season. She beat out 14 Division I jumpers, as well as a pair from Division II and five from Division III. Harlow notched a pair of provisional qualifying times in the 55-meter hurdles, running her best at 8.45 in the semifinals and missing a finals spot by 0.05 seconds.

During the 400-meter dash, freshman Renee Thompson (Hartford, CT/Weaver) provisionally qualified for the NCAAs twice and placed fourth in the finals in 57.06. Sophomore Christine Moreau (Lincoln, RI/Lincoln) also qualified for the finals, where she came in seventh, after running a time of 59.24 in the trials. Sophomore All-American Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) finished fourth in the 200M in 24.89, coming within 0.15 seconds of a four-year-old school record.

Wheaton's 4x400-meter relay team, comprised of Moreau, sophomores Lily Calderwood (Harvard, MA/Bromfield School) and Natana Jules (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls), and freshman Kamia Smith (Cincinnati, OH/Cincinnati Country Day School) scored points while provisionally qualifying for the NCAAs thanks to a time of 3:56.61.

Each Wheaton team competes next weekend, with the women kicking things off on Friday at the two-day Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship at Wesleyan University. On Saturday, the Lyon men begin action at the two-day IC4A Championship at Boston University.

Complete Results

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News Headlines.

Wheaton reorganizes track and field staff, Souza and Mangiacotti named co-head coaches (more)

Three Wheaton track and field athletes earn national academic honors, both men's and women's squads draw accolades from USTFCCCA (more)

Track teams finish competition at two-day NCAA Championship, Powell notches first indoor All-America showing in 55M hurdles (more)

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