Women's Outdoor Track & Field Dominant in Win at Rose-Hulman Twilight

RESULTS

Terre Haute, Ind., April 15, 2011 — The Washington University in St. Louis women’s outdoor track and field team finished first in eight events while setting three 2011 NCAA Division III Championship provisional qualifying marks as it placed first at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Twilight Meet on Friday night in Terre Haute, Ind.

The WUSTL women tallied a team score of 223 points to grab the top spot among 11 competing schools at the Rose-Hulman Twilight. The Washington University men’s team finished fourth with 107 points and had a pair of runners meet NCAA provisional standards in the 5,000-meter run.

Junior Liz Phillips won the 1,500-meter with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:35.21. Freshman Shannon Howell placed first in the 400-meter hurdles with a provisional mark of 1:03.69, finishing .44 off her season-best pace of 1:03.25, and freshman Anna Etherington cleared 3.55 meters in the pole vault to grab another first place finish for the Bears while meeting the provisional NCAA Championship standard for the first time this year.

Phillips’ time in the 1,500 ranks second in Division III, while Etherington is the first female pole vaulter to meet the NCAA provisional qualifying standard in 2011.

In the men’s 5,000, senior Dave Spandorfer finished first with a mark of 14:38.91 while junior Michael Burnstein was right behind him, coming in second with a time of 14:42.39. Through Friday night’s competition the Washington University duo ranks first in second in Division III.

Rounding out the other top individual performances for the Washington University women’s team, sophomore Anne Diaz-Arrastia came in first in the triple jump with a distance of 10.90 meters, senior Kelli Blake won the 800-meter, finishing in 2:20.81, and freshman Lizzy Handschy won the 5,000 in 19:18.20.

The women’s 4x100-relay team of freshman Ahkianne Wanliss, Howell, freshman Katie Sandson and freshman Liz Godar finished first with a time of 49.77, as did the 4x400 relay team of freshman Alison Cesarz, junior Erica Jackey, freshman Nkele Davis and Howell, finishing in 4:03.55.

The men’s 4x100 relay team also placed first, with the foursome of senior Tom Gulyas, junior Dan Davis, freshman Jake Willen and sophomore Ryan Doll posting a time of 42.76.

Washington University returns to action next Friday-Saturday, April 22-23, for the 2011 University Athletic Association (UAA) Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.