Women’s Track and Field Qualifies Four at Mason Invitational

Emily Jeremiah Ties Career-Best Pole Vault

05/03/08 11:43PM

FAIRFAX, VA - William and Mary’s women’s track and field team recorded four ECAC-qualifying performances Saturday at the George Mason Spring Invitational, and also had several all-time top-10 efforts under near-ideal conditions.

Complete Results

Freshman Emily Jeremiah (Mechanicsville, Va.) tied her career-best in the pole vault to re-affirm her qualification to the ECAC Championships, clearing 11’ 11.75” to win the event and lead a Tribe sweep of the top four positions. Jeremiah is tied for third all-time at the College with senior Erin Gnass (Brentwood, Tenn.), who took second this afternoon with a vault of 11’ 5.75”. Sophomore Jennifer Garrott (Burke, Va.) improved her career-best nearly six inches to take third, clearing 10’ 11.75” to move up to a tie for ninth on the Tribe’s all-time top performers list. Senior Nicole Bost (Mechanicsville, Va.) rounded out the team’s showing with her fourth-place vault of 10’ 6”.

Senior Emily Gousen (Arlington, Va.) won the 5,000m run with an ECAC-qualifying time of 17:18.59, leading a sweep of the top five. Sophomore Rachel Ohm (West Coxsackie, N.Y.) finished second in 17:32.45, a massive improvement of more than 50 seconds over her previous best at that distance and only six seconds off of qualifying. Third place went to her classmate, Kayley Byrne (Oak Hill, Va.), who crossed the line in 17:34.24, and fellow sophomore Sallie Ford (Lynchburg, Va.) was fourth in 17:50.78. Senior Abby Booker (Haddonfield, N.J.) finished out the top five in 18:03.70.

Junior Abby Lemon (Berryville, Va.) won the hammer throw with an ECAC-qualifying toss of 166 feet, and sophomore Ashley Williams (Williamsburg, Va.) was third with a throw of 152’ 8”. Freshman Katie Guevel (Burlington, Kan.) re-qualified for the ECAC Championships in the 100m hurdles, finishing third in 14.23 seconds. Guevel also finished third in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5’ 3”, and was fifth in the long jump with a leap of 17’ 5.5”. Sophomore Alyssa Gaeto (Brentwood, Tenn.) finished fourth in the long jump with a jump of 17’ 6”.

William and Mary had a pair of athletes record all-time top-10 performances in the 400m dash, as senior Allie Lewis (Roanoke, Va.) ran 57.02 seconds and sophomore Dana Harvey (Mechanicsville, Va.) finished right behind her in 57.23 seconds. Lewis, the indoor record-holder at 600m and 800m, now ranks as the sixth-fastest quarter-miler in school history, and Harvey is seventh.

In the 1,500m run, sophomore Keely Murphy (Owings, Md.) timed 4:45.77 for the win in her first race of the year at the distance. Junior Emily Arena (Manassas, Va.), also making her season-debut at 1,500m, finished third in a career-fast 4:47.16. Classmate Rebecca Ward (Midlothian, Va.) ran 4:52.30 to finish fourth.

The season continues tomorrow four time zones and 3,000 miles away at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational. Sophomore Emily Anderson (Golf, Ill.) is scheduled to contest the 1,500m run beginning at roughly 10:30 pm Eastern time, and head coach Kathy Newberry ’00 will be looking for her Olympic and Trials qualifying time in the Kim McDonald Memorial 10,000m at 11:30 pm Eastern time.