2008 season preview

January 11, 2008

NORTON, MA- With the dawning of the 2008 indoor and outdoor track and field seasons, the Wheaton College women's program is looking to peak again while riding a similar wave of success that brought eight national titles between 1999 and 2003, as well as nine consecutive league championships.

"I tell our athletes, 'Get on the plane,' the one going to the national championships in March and May," said 14th-year head coach Paul Souza, who also guides the men's program. "That's the motto this year. We have the potential to put more men and women at the national meet than ever before. The more people who are there, the more chances we have to win it."

Last year, the team had its best showing at an NCAA Championship in three years by placing ninth during the indoor meet and tying for 28th during the outdoor season, the Lyons' highest finishes since coming in second and third, respectively, at the 2004 championships.

"We have more talent across the board on our women's team than we've ever had here," said Souza. "What we're lacking is experience, and the competitive nature and the personality of the team have yet to be determined."

In Souza's time building the program into a national and conference power, the Lyons at one point won five straight indoor national titles while collecting three consecutive outdoor crowns. Wheaton had won each of the first eight New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships until last year, when its nine-year rein as a league champion ended with a second-place showing.

"We had a good team last year, but other teams in the conference are figuring out how to beat us by having a large number of athletes on their team," said Souza. Wheaton has 28 competitors this year, including 11 freshmen and 10 juniors. Three seniors and four sophomores complete the roster. "Where others have depth, we have a strong nucleus of talent."

Souza is joined by fourth-year full-time assistant coach Marc Mangiacotti, while men's and women's cross country head coach Paul Carr is in his ninth year as a track assistant. Steve Carr and Kathrine Wallace '05 are each in their second season, while Jennifer Harlow '07 and Richard Jones are both in their first. Harlow, a national-champion high jumper, and Jones, a long jumper, are training for the Olympic trials in addition to assisting Souza.

"I know the talent is there," said Souza. "This is a rare year where we don't have anybody who's ever been on a national championship team, so they don't know what it takes to win one. We need some upperclassmen to step up and take the reigns and really put the hammer down."

Senior Joell Whitley (Magnolia, NJ/Triton Regional) is serving her second year as a captain, while classmate Megan Brousseau (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) is in her first. Brousseau holds two school records and was the NEWMAC cross country championship runner up three times, as senior Jessie Buonaccorsi (Shutesbury, MA/Amherst Regional) joined her in helping Wheaton finish second at the league meet this past fall. Whitley, a sprinter and jumper, is expected to miss her final collegiate campaign due to injury.

Two juniors are also captains this year, as sprinters Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) and Natana Jules (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) have each thus far had standout careers. Ezeigwe has earned a total of three All-America honors in the 200- and 400-meter dashes, while she and Jules have each twice qualified for All-America status in the 4x400-meter relay. Souza said he considers Ezeigwe one of the top sprinters in the country.

Juniors Celeste Karpow (Wilton, CT/Wilton) and Miriam Ledley (Needham, MA/Needham) are slated to compete in sprint events, while Ledley will also run distance. Karpow earned her first All-America accolade last year during the outdoor 4x400-meter relay. Classmate Lily Calderwood (Harvard, MA/Bromfield School), who holds two school records, won the 800-meter run at the last two NEWMAC Championships and will provide experience in the middle-distance events.

Among the athletes who complete the Class of 2009, Morgan Jamiel (Warwick, RI/Toll Gate) will compete in events to prepare for the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon, as Souza said she's the program's best multi-event athlete in five years. Christine Moreau (Lincoln, RI/Lincoln), a hurdler and sprinter, helped the 4x400-meter relay team win at the NEWMAC meet last year, while Amanda Rawson (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional) was an all-conference cross country runner this past fall. Thrower Ashley Mills (Hingham, MA/Hingham) and jumper Danica Peterson (Westwood, MA/Westwood), who placed second in the high jump at the 2007 conference championship, round out the junior corps.

Three of the four sophomores are sprinters, including Kamia Smith (Cincinnati, OH/Cincinnati Country Day School) and Renee Thompson (Hartford, CT/Weaver), each of whom earned All-America honors in the 4x400-meter relay as freshmen, with Thompson doing so during both seasons. Kelly Libert (New Haven, CT/James Hillhouse) was a member of the NEWMAC's top 4x400-meter relay team in 2007, while distance runner Katie Pratt (Litchfield, CT/Litchfield) rounds out the quartet.

Wheaton's freshman class is buoyed by a half dozen field athletes, including throwers Caleigh Greenwell (Warwick, RI/La Salle Academy) and Diana Kornberg (Highland Mills, NY/Monroe-Woodbury). Orna Feighery (Westboro, MA/Westboro), Meagan Jennett (Charlottesville, VA/Western Albemarle) and Erin Neville (North Providence, RI/La Salle Academy) will concentrate on the high jump, while Lacresha Simpson (Bronx, NY/New Rochelle) should compete as a long and triple jumper.

Jennett and Simpson will also hurdle, while Danielle Hamlett (Cambridge, MA/Cambridge Rindge and Latin School) and Laurenmaria Smith (Providence, RI/Hope) are slated to compete in sprint events. Erin Jaske (Highlands Ranch, CO/Rock Canyon) and Christina Nelson (Cranston, RI/Saint Mary Academy-Bay View) each ran cross country in the fall, and Jaske could also tackle the 3,000-meter steeplechase during the outdoor season, when Stephany Perkins (Monmouth, ME/Monmouth Academy) will join the team as a middle-distance runner. Perkins is competing for Wheaton's swimming and diving team during the winter.

Souza has set three legs of his squad's distance medley relay team, as Brousseau, Calderwood and Jules are each expected to compete. The final quarter of the lineup will be filled by any of the team's eight 400-meter runners, each of whom will also be vying for a spot on a 4x400-meter relay quartet. Souza said up to six Lyons are in the running to compete for the 4x100-meter relay foursome.

Wheaton begins its indoor campaign on Sunday at the Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, New Hampshire, as the Lyons will compete in four different states during their first five meets. The two-day NCAA Division III Championship will begin on March 14 at Ohio Northern University. This year's NEWMAC Championship occurs on April 26 at Smith College, and the national meet will take place from May 22-24 at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh.

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