William and Mary Earns Two Olympic Trials Qualifications at Stanford

Ian Fitzgerald Runs Career-Fast 5,000m

05/05/08 2:50AM

PALO ALTO, CALIF - William and Mary’s men’s and women’s track teams had a successful day Sunday evening at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational, earning a pair of qualifying times to the U.S. Olympic Trials as well as berths at the IC4A Championships and NCAA East Regional.

Complete Results

Sophomore Patterson Wilhelm (Lynchburg, Va.) opened the meet for the Tribe, taking eighth in his section of the 5,000m in 14:16.80. The effort was a career-best for Wilhelm by nearly six seconds, and re-affirmed his qualification to the IC4A Championships.

Tribe assistant Ed Moran ’03 ran in the top heat of the 5,000m, battling with distance luminaries such as 2007 World Champion Bernard Lagat, and placed eighth in 13:30.75, besting the automatic standard for the Olympic Trials. Moran, who won the 5,000m gold at the Pan-American Games last summer, already holds automatic qualifications at both 5,000m (13:20.35) and 10,000m (27:43.13) to both the Olympic Trials and Olympic Games from his great campaign last year.

Women’s head coach Kathy Newberry ’00 ran very near to her lifetime-best in the Kim McDonald Women’s 10,000m, crossing the line in 32:50.97 to finish close behind the Olympic Trials automatic mark of 32:45.00. The race was extremely fast, as the top 10 all beat the Olympic automatic barrier and winner Shalene Flanagan ran 30:34.49 to beat the American record by over 15 seconds. With her time, Newberry should be in good position to run at her second Olympic Trials this summer.

In the men’s 5,000m “B” section, senior Ian Fitzgerald (Glenshaw, Pa.) earned his NCAA Regional berth with a fifth-place 13:56.35. Fitzgerald led for the entire second mile and into the third while shaving a full second off of the career-best mark he set here last season, and ranks as the seventh-fastest runner in school history.

William and Mary returns to action next Friday, May 9, at the Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It will be the final qualifying meet for post-season competition this year.