April 5, 2008

Complete Results | Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The men's and women's track and field teams celebrated on Saturday after defeating archrival Lehigh in its annual outdoor dual meet. The women won their fifth straight victory over the Mountain Hawks in a convincing fashion, 116-87. For the second consecutive year, the men's competition came down to the final event and the Leopards won the 4x400 relay to edge Lehigh in the standings, 105-98.

Lafayette had three individual ECAC qualifiers in addition to the 4x100 relay. The men had one individual and one relay qualifier as well. Twenty-three Leopards posted personal records at Moravian College, where the meet was held. The teams won 24 of the 38 events of the day.

Lafayette started the day off strong as the women swept the top three spots in the hammer throw with senior Ashley Harbin placing first with a throw of 191' 11" to hit the ECAC qualifying mark for the third time this season. Andrea Cerbie took second (165'0"), also hitting the ECAC standard. Junior Vicky Melroy rounded out the top three, going a distance of 154' 8".

The women also swept the top three spots in the shot put and discus throw. Junior Osasumwen Izevbigie threw 44' 11¾" in the shot put to qualify for ECACs and come in first. Pamela Glennon (41' 2¼") and Cerbie (39' 11¼") placed second and third respectively. Elizabeth Graybill won the discus with a throw of 119' 0" while Harbin placed second (114' 8") and freshman Kelsey Slater threw a personal-best 113' 5" for third place.

On the men's side, sophomore Connor McGee took the shot put title with an IC4A-qualifying throw of 51'7¾". Sean McAuley won the discus (149' 2") while also placing second in the hammer and fifth in the shot put. Freshman Matt Crystal finished behind McAuley, going 129' 9" in the discus for third place while also grabbing third in the hammer.

Freshman Danyelle Dell'Olio won her second javelin event in two weeks with a throw of 112' 4" while Cerbie took second, going a distance of 99' 7".

The Leopards swept the high jump and long jump events. Senior Leigh Kalinowski cleared a height of 5' 3" while Matt Shaia jumped 6' 4" to break his previous personal record by three inches. Lafayette claimed the top three spots in the long jump as junior Jessica Buzzell set a new school record with a leap of 18' 10¾", breaking her previous record by one inch. Senior Emily Cholak and freshman Kerriann Borke finished second and third, with 18'4 ¼" and 18' 3", respectively. Sophomore Kyle Clayton jumped 23' ¾" to win the men's long jump and set a new personal record.

Cholak won the triple jump (38' 7") and Borke finished second with a personal-best leap of 37' 5¾". Sophomore Bradley Williams led the men and finished second with a jump of 45' ¼".

Both the men's and women's 4x100 meter relays qualified for ECAC/IC4As. Freshmen Janica Austin, Asia Hollis and Borke and junior Buzzell ran a time of 48.01 seconds, the third-fastest time in school history. On the men's side, sophomores Kyle Clayton, Brant Hammer and Williams teamed up with Ever Ruiz to finish first in 41.87 seconds.

Austin also won the 100-meter dash (12.30) while Hollis grabbed first-place finishes in the 200 (25.82) and 400 meters (57.54). Hollis is currently the school recordholder in the 400 meters.

Clayton claimed the top spot in the 100 (10.95) and 200-meter (22.42) dashes, bringing his win total to four on the day. Hammer took second in the 100 meters with a time of 11.02 seconds. Sophomore Adam Ballester won the 400-meter dash (49.56), followed by senior Brian Vail in second (49.91). Ballester also recorded a second-place finish the 200 meters (22.75), behind Clayton.

In the hurdles, Kristen Kalinowski (15.05) and Buzzell (15.14) went one-two in the 100-meter hurdles, while Austin won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:04.81. Clayton and sophomore Sifiso Takirambudde took second and third in the 100-meter hurdles, while Ruiz and Takirambudde claimed third and fourth-place in the 400-meter hurdles.

In the distance events, sophomore Kerry Taylor broke her personal-best by 16 seconds to run the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:27.96 to win the event and record the third-fastest time in school history. Freshman Ryan Stasiowski won the steeplechase for the men with a personal-best time of 9:28.06.

Senior Alex Wechsler won the 1,500 meter run with a time of 4:03.58 and Matthew DeBlander finished three seconds later for second place. Wechsler also placed second in the 5,000 meters, running the race in 4:54.13.

With a two point lead, the Lafayette men entered the final event, the 4x400 meter relay. Ballester started the race with sophomore Sean Casey and Vail running the middle legs and Williams taking the anchor to win with a time of 3:18.19.

Hollis was named the female MVP of the meet for her wins in the 200 and 400 meters and her part in the winning 4x100 meter relay.

The team will return to action on April 11-12 when they participate in the Bucknell Invitational and Multi Challenge.

* Check back in the next couple of days for photo galleries from the event.