WU Women Take Back UAA Indoor Track & Field Championship

RESULTS

New York, N.Y., March 7, 2009 – The Washington University women’s indoor track and field team won the 2009 University Athletic Association (UAA) title on Saturday, March 7, at The Armory in New York, N.Y. Washington U. tallied 138 team points and cleared second-place Emory University by 24.5 points. The WU men came in fourth place at the seven-team championship with 88 points.

The Bears won their ninth UAA women’s indoor championship over the past 10 seasons. The Red and Green had won eight-straight conference titles before a second-place finish at the 2008 UAA Indoor Championships. The victory is the first Washington University head coach Jeff Stiles, who is in his first season as the head track & field coach on the Danforth Campus, after serving seven seasons in the capacity of head cross country and assistant track and field coach.

Just as she did on the first day of competition, senior Danielle Wadlington shined for the Washington U. women. She won her second UAA title of the meet and broke her second school record of the weekend in the process. Wadlington finished first in the 55-meter hurdle finals with a NCAA provisional and WU record time of 8.38. She also garnered all-UAA honors with a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash, with a time of 25.97.

Wadlington’s victory in the 55-hurdles was one of three UAA titles for the WU women’s squad on Saturday. Freshman Liz Phillips provided the other individual title with a first-place run in the mile, submitting a time of 5:15.18, and the Bears’ 4x400-meter relay team of senior Erika Wade, freshman Elisabeth Stocking, senior Krystyn Stowe and Wadlington also placed first, falling just 0.33 second shy of meeting the NCAA provisional qualifying mark, with a time of 4:00.33.

Including their three wins, the WU women combined to earn seven all-UAA citations on Saturday. Freshman Erica Jackey placed third in the mile run, finishing exactly two seconds behind Phillips at 5:17.18. Phillips earned all-UAA honors in a second event, placing third in the 3,000-meter run (10:15.71).

Additionally, junior Molly Schlamb was the runner-up in the 800-meter run (2:21.34) and senior Caitlin Molloy placed third in the 55-meter hurdles (8.68).

On the men’s side, Washington U. added four more all-UAA finishes to its total after earning two on Friday. Junior Iby Umana came in second in the 400-meter dash with a 2009 personal best time of 50.38, and sophomore Dave Spandorfer grabbed the team’s other individual second-place finish by submitting a time of 8:39.44 in the 3,000-meter run.

The Bears also fielded a second-place 4x400-meter relay squad, which with a time of 3:21.19 fell only .59 seconds shy of the provisional standard, and senior Pierre Hoppenot was the third-place finisher in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.58.

Saturday was the final day to qualify for the 2009 NCAA men’s and women’s Division III Indoor Championships, which will be held Friday-Saturday, March 13-14, at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind. The NCAA selection committee will release the official list of participants for the 2009 championship meet on Monday, March 9, at 1 p.m. (ET).

Bears Win Four UAA Titles on First Day of Conference Meet

RESULTS

New York, N.Y., March 6, 2009 – The Washington University women’s indoor track and field team ranks first, and the men’s team is third, after one day of competition at the 2009 University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Championships, hosted by New York University at The Armory in New York, N.Y. Both the WU men and women took home a pair of UAA titles at the first day of the two-day championship meet.

Senior Danielle Wadlington won the long jump on Friday with an NCAA Division III Championship provisional qualifying leap of 5.44 meters. Freshman Katie Hered won the second title on the women’s side, placing first in the pole vault by clearing a height of 3.32 meters.

For the Washington University men, sophomore Ben Harmon won a pair of UAA titles. Harmon placed first in the high jump by tying his season best mark of 1.98 meters, and he also won the long jump with a distance of 6.81 meters. Sophomore Dave Spandorfer also turned in a strong finish for the Bears coming in fourth in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:57.88, falling just 4.88 shy of meeting the minimum NCAA qualifying mark.

In addition to their two first-place finishes, the Washington U. women combined to have eight other student-athletes earn All-UAA honors. Sophomore Sangeeta Hardy, freshman Elisabeth Stocking, senior Alli Alberts and sophomore Jessica Londeree teamed to place third in the distance medley relay with a time of 12:30.92.

Senior Jessica Lane came in third in the pole vault with a mark of 3.02 meters and freshman Imari Mason was the runner-up in the long jump, coming just 0.01 meters shy of meeting NCAA provisional qualifying standards at 5.42 meters. The Red and Green had a pair of top-three finishers in the weight throw. Senior Aubrey Edwards placed second with an NCAA provisional and career-best throw of 15.87 meters, and her classmate Liat Rome came in third with a distance of 13.51 meters.

In preliminary action on Friday, Wadlington broke one school record and qualified for the finals in two events. Her first-place time of 25.67 in the 200-meter dash broke the 11-year old Washington University record of 25.92. She also ran a time of 8.51 in the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles, ranking first overall heading into Saturday’s final.

Freshman Dan Davis sits at the top of the qualifiers for the men’s 55-meter hurdle final, turning in a first-place time of 7.83 in Friday’s preliminary.

The Washington University men’s and women’s track and field teams will conclude action at the 2009 UAA Championships on Saturday, March 7. The meet is scheduled to begin with field events at 9:30 a.m. (ET), with the women’s mile kicking off the running events at 11 a.m. (ET).