School Records Fall on Final Day of Women's Track and Field at Virginia Tech Challenge

Four ECAC Qualifications Highlight Meet

02/14/04 11:30PM

BLACKSBURG, VA - Freshman Meghan Bishop (Blue Bell, PA), senior Emily Halm (Massillon, OH), sophomore Bonnie Meekins (Herndon, VA) and the 4x800m relay team of Bishop, sophomore Lydia Malley (Arlington, VA), junior Ruth Loyer (Red Lion, PA) and sophomore Lauren Heron (Manlius, NY) all qualified for indoor ECACs as three-time defending CAA Champion William and Mary women's track and field competed on the final day of the Virginia Tech Challenge. The highly competitive meet featured 22 teams, including Georgia, N. C. State, North Carolina, UCLA, Wake Forest, Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, James Madison, Virginia, Hampton, Liberty, VMI, East Carolina, Lynchburg, Radford, Roanoke and host Virginia Tech.

Bishop, Malley, Loyer and Heron combined to claim victory in the 4x800m relay, clocking an ECAC qualifying time of 9:24.79. Bishop would rack up another ECAC qualification in the mile, where she paced a 4:55.32 for fourth place. In the same race, Halm took fifth by running a personal-record time of 4:56.88, some five seconds below the ECAC mark. Sophomore Loren Cutright (Montpelier, VA) also set a career best in the race, clocking a 5:18.50.

The 4x400m relay team of freshman Brenna Blevins (Pulaski, VA), freshman Mary Whitehead (Dulles, VA), junior Naomi Mattos (Woodbridge, VA) and senior Jen Monk (Warminster, PA) broke the indoor Tribe record in the event by combining for a fifth-place time of 3:54.85, just a few ticks better than the old mark of 3:55.33 set in 1990. The quartet's performance was just one second shy of qualifying for ECACs. It was the second school record broken at the meet as on Friday, junior Cassidy Harris (Geneva, IL) threw for a personal-best 51'1.75" in the weight throw to break the old Tribe mark of 50'2.25" set by junior teammate Ayanna Jones (Richmond, VA) last season.

Meekins qualified for ECACs in the pentathlon by scoring 3,486 points, a career best, in a third-place effort. In the 200m, freshmen Kathleen Woody (Herndon, VA) and Whitehead continued their steady improvement, as each ran personal record times. Woody clocked a 26.19 while Whitehead paced a 26.72.

Head coach Pat Van Rossum beamed about the team's performance. "It's very gratifying to have two school records broken. We've chased the 4x400m mark for a number of years and to get with two freshmen [Blevins and Whitehead] is great. Harris getting the record in the weight throw, which is really her secondary event [next to the shot] was really rewarding. All around, with a number of ECAC performances and wins, it was a great meet and we're ready to go to George Mason in a tune-up for ECACs"

The Tribe is off next weekend but returns to action on Saturday, February 28, when a limited contingent is expected to compete at the UNC Last Chance Meet while the team also contests the George Mason Invitational on Sunday, February 29, in the last meet before the ECAC Indoor Championships.