Men's and Women's Track & Field in First Place Through First Day of UAA Outdoors

RESULTS

Atlanta, Ga., April 22, 2011 — The Washington University in St. Louis men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams each put themselves in strong position to capture conference championships with an impressive first day of competition at the 2011 University Athletic Association (UAA) Outdoor Championships on Friday at the campus of Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

Washington University’s men’s and women’s teams combined to capture nine conference championships on Friday while boasting 19 student-athletes who each garnered all-conference accolades. The WUSTL women tallied 90 points to lead second-place University of Chicago by 39 points, while the men’s team finished with 80 points, 25 points clear of second-place Chicago.

The Bears had five individuals meet 2011 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship provisional qualifying marks, with two of those performances coming during a preliminary run.

Senior Ben Harmon won two events, meeting provisional standards in the long jump with a first-place distance of 7.09 meters and clearing 4.45 meters in the pole vault. Senior Alden Black won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with an NCAA provisional time of 9:11.46, a mark that ranks fourth in Division III heading into the weekend’s competition.

Junior Dan Davis ran a provisional qualifying time of 14.56 in the men’s 110-meter hurdle preliminaries to lead the pack heading into Saturday afternoon’s final, and freshman Shannon Howell accomplished the same feat in the women’s 400-hurdle prelims, where she ran a season-best NCAA provisional time of 1:02.99.

Senior Taryn Surtees was the fifth Bear to meet provisional qualifying standards on Friday and she did so by winning the 10,000-meter with a time of 36:28.39. Surtees finished more than 90 clear of second place Jessica Londeree, who crossed in 38:02.71, while freshman Sarah Fisher made Washington University 3-for-3 in 10,000 all-UAA finishes by coming in third in 38:02.75.

The men’s team also finished one, two, three in the 10,000 meter. Washington University’s top three runners crossed the finish line within 7.55 seconds of one another. Junior Michael Burnstein came in first (31:20.42), followed by junior Tucker Hartley (31:22.55), then sophomore David Hamm (31:27.97).

The Washington University women captured conference titles in three other events. Freshman Anna Etherington cleared 3.40 meters in the pole vault to finish first, while freshman Moira Killoran came in second with a height of 3.25 meters.

Sophomore Anne Diaz-Arrastia won the long jump with a distance of 5.44 meters and the 4x800-relay team of freshman Katy Barron, junior Erica Jackey, junior Elisabeth Stocking and junior Liz Phillips came in first with a time of 9:20.28.

In the throwing events, WUSTL men’s sophomore Tom Arnold won the shot put with a throw of 13.95 meters and senior Andrew McClelland came in third with a toss of 13.23 meters. Senior Moji Hassan finished third in the women’s shot put with a distance of 11.23 meters.

Washington University concludes competition at the 2011 UAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday, April 23, in Atlanta, Ga. Competition is scheduled to begin with field events at 10 a.m. (ET), and running events at 11:30 a.m. (ET).