William and Mary Leads after First Day of Ram Invitational

Abby Lemon, Nicole Kazuba Qualify for ECAC Championships

03/15/08 3:00PM

RICHMOND, VA - Behind junior Abby Lemon’s (Berryville, Va.) school-record effort in the hammer throw, William and Mary’s women’s track and field team took a commanding lead Friday evening at the VCU Ram Invitational. The Tribe leads the five-team event by 40.5 points with six events scored.

First Day Results

Lemon won the hammer throw and qualified for the ECAC Championships with her throw of 164’ 4”, resetting her own school record by five inches and becoming the first Tribe woman to throw further than 50 meters. Sophomore Ashley Williams (Williamsburg, Va.) took second in the event with a huge throw of 154’ 9”. The throw was more than 12 feet past her previous best, and moves Williams to fourth all-time at the College.

Sophomore Nicole Kazuba (Chantilly, Va.) won the pole vault with an ECAC-qualifying height of 11’ 11.75”, leading four Tribe athletes in the top five. Senior Erin Gnass (Brentwood, Tenn.) was second after clearing 11’ 7.75”, and senior Nicole Bost (Mechanicsville, Va.) took third with a height of 10’ 8”. Sophomore Jennifer Garrott (Burke, Va.) also cleared 10’ 8”, a personal-best height that ranks her 10th all-time at the College, and finished in fifth place based on criteria.

In the 400m hurdles, sophomore Dana Harvey (Mechanicsville, Va.) won in a time of 1:07.07, and freshman Sarah Rybarczyk (Snohomish, Wash.) was third in 1:11.75. In the 5,000m, senior Katie Endres (Sterling, Va.) ran 18:19.10 for second place, and sophomores Rachel Ohm (West Coxsackie, N.Y.) and Sallie Ford (Lynchburg, Va.) were third and fourth, respectively.

Freshman Katie Guevel (Burlington, Va.) leads classmate KB Brower (Downington, Pa.) in the heptathlon, 2,903 points to 2,329, with three events left. The pair tied in the high jump after clearing 5’ 0.5”, and Guevel posted the top mark in each of the other three events contested Friday. Her time of 15.11 seconds in the 100m hurdles ranks her seventh on the College’s all-time top-performers lists.

The Ram Invitational concludes today.

Team Standings
1. WILLIAM AND MARY 85
2. Wagner 44.5
3. Richmond 31
4. Mount St. Mary’s 29.50
5. Virginia Commonwealth 13