Kazuba, Gousen Repeat as CAA Champions

William and Mary First After Day One

04/19/08 9:22AM

WILLIAMSBURG - William and Mary leads the team standings after the first day of competition at the Colonial Athletic Association Women’s Track and Field Championships, ahead of James Madison 72-33. However, it is too early to call the race, with several event finals still to be contested.

Day One Results
Heptathlon Day One
Decathlon Day One

Tribe athletes claimed three gold medals Friday, led by junior Abby Lemon’s (Berryville, Va.) 175 foot throw in the hammer. Lemon qualified for the ECAC Championships and earned the conference’s automatic bid to the Regional, and blew past the school record of 167’ 9” she set one week ago.

In the pole vault, sophomore Nicole Kazuba (Chantilly, Va.) defended her conference title with a meet record-tying jump of 12’ 7.5”. Her height also broke the stadium record of 12’ 4” set by Yale’s Molly Lederman in 2003. Kazuba had already qualified for both the NCAA Regional and the ECAC Championships.

Senior Emily Gousen (Arlington, Va.) cruised to victory in the 10,000m to earn her second-consecutive title in the event with an ECAC-qualifying time of 36:51.23. Her time was also nearly 30 seconds below the Zable Stadium record set in 1998 by Shippensburgs Emily Budnyk. What made Gousen’s victory even more impressive was that she stepped to the line only 30 minutes after taking third in the 5,000m run with an ECAC-qualifying 16:59.38.

Also earning all-conference honors for the Tribe (by finishing in the top three of an event) was freshman Katie Guevel (Burlington, Kan.), who threw a personal-record 130’ 3” in the javelin with her first throw, which held up though the preliminary and final rounds to place her third. The distance also boosted her up the all-time top-10chart as the sixth-best thrower in school history. Guevel also ended the first day leading the heptathlon by 150 points, with her four-event total of 3,144 points putting her on pace to provisionally qualify to the NCAA Championships and shatter the meet record with 5,351 points. During the heptathlon, Guevel won the 100m hurdles in 14.52 seconds, the shot put with a throw of 38’ 7.75”, and the 200 dash in 24.96. She also tied for third in the high jump at 5’ 1.75”.

Senior Erin Gnass (Brentwood, Tenn.) tied for third in the pole vault to earn her first All-CAA award after clearing a height of 11’ 7.75”. Freshman Emily Jeremiah (Mechanicsville, Va.) also jumped 11’ 7.75”, taking sixth on the basis of more misses. Senior Nicole Bost (Mechanicsville, Va.) tied her career-best with a jump of 11’ 1.75” to take seventh, and sophomore Jennifer Garrott (Burke, Va.) tied for eighth with a height of 10’ 8”.

In the hammer throw, sophomore Ashley Williams (Williamsburg, Va.) took sixth with a throw of 145’ 6”. Senior Brenna Blevins (Pulaski, Va.) ended the first day in the heptathlon in fourth place with 2,690 points. In the 5,000m, junior Lynn Morelli (Philadelphia, Pa.) placed fourth with an ECAC-qualifying time of 17:14.59, and sophomore Kayley Byrne (Oak Hill, Va.) was fifth in 17:31.54. Senior Abby Booker (Haddonfield, N.J.) finished sixth in 17:36.33.

In the 10,000m, senior Katie Endres (Sterling, Va.) qualified for the ECAC Championships for the first time with her sixth-place time of 37:24.96. Sophomore Rachel Ohm (West Coxsackie, N.Y.) just missed the ECAC cutoff, placing eighth in 37:45.06.

Several events ran qualifying trials for Saturday’s finals. Senior Allie Lewis (Roanoke, Va.) is the top seed in the 800m after running an ECAC-qualifying 2:10.91. Lewis’ time is an outdoor-best for her. Also qualifying to the 800m were sophomores Kelly McElroy (Wyomissing, Pa.) in 2:12.72, and Keely Murphy (Owings, Md.), in 2:15.73. McElroy’s performance makes her the 11th-fastest runner in school history.

Junior Ashley Madonick (Seaside Park, N.J.) advanced to the finals of the 400m dash in 56.01, a career-best effort that qualified her for the ECAC Championships and moved her to third all-time at the College. Classmate Mallory Hogan (West Hartford, Conn.) ran a personal-best 58.91, moving to 10th on the school’s all-time top-performers list.

In the preliminaries of the 1,500m run, sophomore Meghan Burns (Coopersburg, Pa.) ran 4:42.35 to earn the top seed in tomorrow’s finals, and will joined in the finals by junior Rebecca Ward (Midlothian, Va.), third in 4:43.54, and freshman Betsy Graney (Harper Woods, Mich.), fifth in 4:43.81.

The CAA Championships conclude Saturday.

CAA Women's Track and Field Championships
1. WILLIAM AND MARY 72
2. James Madison 33
3. Northeastern 29
4. Delaware 28.50
5. UNC Wilmington 23.50
6. Georgia State 20
7. George Mason 16
8. Towson 12