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Wheaton athletes break two school marks at Valentine Invitational
February 11, 2006
BOSTON, MA- A pair of school records fell and four NCAA Division III Championship provisional standards were met as the Wheaton College men's and women's indoor track and field teams took part in the Valentine Invitational at Boston University's Track and Tennis Center over the weekend.
Most of the Wheaton men's drama occurred during the 200-meter dash, as a school record fell twice. Senior All-American Ajay Sisodia (Andover, MA/Andover) broke a four-year-old program mark with a 10th-place finish of 21.88 only to see freshman Michael Wright (Baldwin, NY/Uniondale) eclipse that time in 21.86 during the next heat. Wright came in eighth. However, that standard was almost met on two other occasions, as first-year Jonathan Cunha (Lexington, MA/Lexington) ran the next heat in 21.98 before classmate Victor Martinez (Exeter, NH/Phillips Exeter Academy) neared the record at 22.05.
Despite holding his 200-meter dash mark for less than one heat, Sisodia came up with an NCAA provisional time in the 400-meter dash in 48.90. Martinez finished 0.68 seconds off a provisional standard in 49.88. Wright had a close call with a 6.63 finish in the 55-meter dash, coming within 0.13 seconds of reaching both his own school record and an NCAA provisional time. Cunha ran the 55-meter hurdles in 8.09, which was 0.20 ticks shy of matching a school record and 0.34 behind an NCAA provisional time. Freshman Albi Skenderi (Glendale, NY/Grover Cleveland) completed the 55M hurdles race in 8.54.
In the women's events, freshman Lily Calderwood (Harvard, MA/Bromfield School) broke the program's eight-year-old 1,000-meter run record by 3.09 seconds. Calderwood finished 10th in a time of 3:02.21, while senior Kendra Leith (Holden, MA/Wachusett Regional) wasn't far behind in 3:08.31. By completing the 1-mile run in 5:03.87, sophomore Megan Brousseau (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) cleared an NCAA provisional hurdle. During the high jump, junior All-American Jennifer Harlow (East Bridgewater, MA/East Bridgewater) tied for the highest leap of the meet at 5' 6", reaching an NCAA provisional standard for the fifth time in six meets this season.
Freshman Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) had a breakout performance, reaching an NCAA provisional standard while nearly reaching another and narrowly falling short of a pair of school marks. Ezeigwe's time of 57.88 in the 400-meter dash was the provisional qualifier, while she fell 0.01 seconds shy of a provisional qualifying time in the 55-meter dash. Her finish of 7.34 was also just 0.31 ticks short of matching a Wheaton record, and Ezeigwe came within 0.35 seconds of a school mark with a 25.09 showing in the 200-meter dash.
Sophomore Joell Whitley (Magnolia, NJ/Triton Regional) finished just behind Ezeigwe in the 55-meter dash in a time of 7.50, while freshman Celeste Karpow (Wilton, CT/Wilton) was 2.37 seconds short of an NCAA provisional time in the 400-meter dash.
Wheaton's athletes will return to action at three different meets this coming weekend. Both teams are scheduled to compete at Saturday's George Mason Invitational, while some Lyons take part in the Division III New England Championships. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will host the men's championship on Friday and Saturday, and the women's event will occur at Tufts University on Saturday.
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