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School record, two NCAA times highlight Wheaton's showing in Boston
January 25, 2008
BOSTON, MA- A school record and two provisional qualification times for the NCAA Championship highlighted the Wheaton College men's and women's track and field teams' showings at the Reebok Collegiate Indoor Games on Friday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center.
The Lyon women placed fourth out of 11 scoring teams with 51 points, finishing behind only three Division I squads while besting defending Division III national champ Williams College. Wheaton's men placed seventh out of 13 teams with 44 points. Boston College won the women's meet with 170.66 points, while the University of Rhode Island men notched the highest point total with 132.
Wheaton's women claimed four of the top five spots during the 400-meter dash race. The quartet was among only five athletes in the event to crack the one-minute mark. Sophomore Renee Thompson (Hartford, CT/Weaver) and junior Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) went one-two with times of 58.18 and 58.19, respectively, as each provisionally qualified for the national championship. Sophomore Kelly Libert (New Haven, CT/James Hillhouse) came in fourth at 59.69, while classmate Kamia Smith's (Cincinnati, OH/Cincinnati Country Day School) time of 59.85 placed her fifth.
Libert, Smith, Thompson and junior Celeste Karpow (Wilton, CT/Wilton) combined on a fourth-place showing during the 4x400-meter relay, as their time of 3:59.56 was just 1.16 seconds shy of a provisional qualifying time. Freshman Lacresha Simpson (Bronx, NY/New Rochelle) took third during the triple jump competition, as her distance of 36' 4" was only 4 1/4" short of an NCAA qualification. Classmate Erin Neville (North Providence, RI/La Salle Academy) came even closer while tying for third in the high jump, as her 5' 4 1/4" performance was 3/4" shy of a provisional height.
Sophomore Howard Powell (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) highlighted the men's portion of the meet by breaking his own year-old school record in the 55-meter hurdles by 0.02 seconds and coming within 0.01 ticks of an NCAA time. Powell placed third overall at 7.76.
The lone Wheaton athlete in the entire meet to produce a pair of top-three individual finishes was sophomore Mark Cimino (Danbury, CT/Danbury), who took second in the 55-meter dash and third in the 200-meter event. Cimino's time of 6.60 in the 55M trials was 0.01 ticks faster than his finals time, while he recorded a 22.65 finish in the 200M.
Powell joined sophomore Merzudin Ibric (Revere, MA/Phillips Academy) and freshmen Nick Colantuono (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) and Mark Williamson (Vienna, VA/James Madison) on the 4x400-meter relay quartet, which placed second in 3:22.31, just 0.81 seconds short of the winning team. Junior Kyle Greenidge (Dorchester, MA/Newton North) also had a runner-up finish, as his triple jump distance of 44' 9" was a little more than one foot short of qualifying him for the NCAA meet. Freshman Marcus Kohlman (Milton, MA/Milton) tied for third in the high jump at 6' 2".
Wheaton's squads compete next on Saturday, February 2 at the Tufts University Invitational. Action in Medford is slated to begin at 10:00 a.m.
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