April 9, 2011 -- Lynchburg Track & Field Classic

Post date: Jul 26, 2011 6:23:51 PM

Another set of strong early season performances for the Captains at Lynchburg College’s Classic. The distance corps was particularly successful, claiming a dozen lifetime best marks and two of the Captains’ three All-Time Performances on the day.

Distance Corps Rolls in Lynchburg

Nearly Half Of CNU’s 25 PRs Come From 800 Meters And Up

The Captains continued their early season successes with 25 more PRs and three All-Time Performances on Lynchburg College’s track and runways. Before the distance runners had a chance to show their gains, the sprinters, hurdlers, and jumpers were on display.

In the 100m Hurdles preliminary round, CNU qualified all four entries to the finals led by Cheria Jackson’s (Woodbridge, VA) 16.27 and including Jenna Elliott’s (Fredericksburg, VA) PR 18.28. Jackson also came back in the flat 100m trials to post a qualifying 12.93 PR. In the finals, Jackson posted two more PRs with a victory in the 100m Hurdles (15.67) and a runner-up finish in the dash (12.77). In between the prelims and finals of the shortest races, the distance crew made their first statement. Jade Zaharoff(Vienna, VA) debuted in the Steeplechase with a CNU All-Time #4 performance of 12:15.96. Corey Lofton (Vienna, VA) tested his legs after a couple weeks away from competition and turned in a 9:53.64 effort in his first Steeplechase of the year. The big PR blasts then came in the 1500m races. Erin Rolaf (Woodbridge, VA) ran her first outdoor race of the year and netted a PR 5:13.51 and Ashley Doerner (Fairfax Station, VA) improved her best to 5:48.46.

The men cranked out 5 more PRs – the only CNU entry who did not get credit for a PR was senior Matthew Winkler (Palmyra, VA) who was running his first 1500m race and therefore was not eligible to count his time as a PR. Brian Huffman (Charlottesville, VA) led the Captains with a nearly 8 second improvement to 4:07.81. Scott Teribury (Woodbridge, VA) followed in 4:11.16 – a 15 second improvement – with Winkler on his heels (4:11.47). Ray Gamache’s (King George, VA) 4:12.07 was an improvement of 4 seconds as was Christopher Lyford’s (Leesburg, VA) 4:16.54. Joshua Bowling (Crewe, VA) cut 2 seconds from his PR to 4:17.47.

After Kristen Bell (Vienna, VA) (59.23) and Nathan Joyce (Ft. Belvoir, VA) (51.03) earned PRs in the 400m Dashes and the straight races ran their finals, the distance crew got back to work. Jessica McClelland (Stafford, VA) ran a near-PR 2:26.47 in the 800m. Shaowei Tu (Mechanicsville, VA) dropped more than a second from his early season PR and his 1:54.86 moves him to =#7 on the CNU All-Time List. Jeffrey Ball (Chesapeake, VA) was a few steps behind with his own PR 1:56.91 – almost 3 seconds faster than his previous outdoor best.

The jumpers were having a pretty good day for themselves, too. Joseph Taylor (Prince George, VA) raised his PR 4.5 inches in the Pole Vault to 4.51m/14-9.5 and up from #5 to #3 on the CNU All-Time List. Both Kalee Hammerton (Royersford, PA) (3.04m/9-11.5) and Taryn Langley (Hopewell, VA) (2.74m/8-11.75) took good shots at their PRs with Langley’s clearance just a centimeter below her best. Jenna Elliott (5.00m/16-4.75) and Caitlin Miller (Huntington, NY) (4.64m/15-2.5) both landed lifetime bests in the Long Jump. Richard Roethel (Farmingville, NY) (6.86m/22-6) and Kwarteng Asare (Fairfax, VA) (13.77m/45-2) earned victories in the men's Long Jump and Triple Jump, respectively.

Roethel also led the Captains in the sprints with a 22.72 finish in the 200m. Brandon Evans (North Stafford, VA) raced a PR 23.46. Kristen Bell’s (Vienna, VA) 26.77 helped pull teammate Cheria Jackson to her third PR of the day (26.79). Brittany Schanck (Leesburg, VA) also picked up a lifetime best (29.15).

In the 5k, the men added three more PRs. William Kirk (Mechanicsville, VA) crossed the line 32 seconds faster than his previous best in fourth place (16:01.07). Eric Ginsburg’s (Loch Arbour, NJ) (17:19.80) and Andrew Giordano’s (Great Falls, VA) (17:28.59) times were also improvements by around half a minute.

The Captains finished the day with two great battles in the 4x400m Relays. The women got a strong start from Kristen Bell (60.8). Michelle Stauffer (Fort Valley, VA) (64.7) and Cheria Jackson (61.9) kept a tough Lynchburg squad in their sights and set up Dira Hansen (Culpeper, VA) for a big chase of their star Christina Washington. Hansen unleashed a 56.6 lap to bring the Captains to their fastest time of the season, but couldn’t quite reel in the Hornets. The men lined up two strong squads – still trying to sort out the top candidates for the end-of-year quartet. The “B” squad’s lead, Nathan Joyce (51.5), got the better of an under-the-weather Jeffrey Ball (52.4), but Matthew Winkler brought the "A" team roaring back with a 49.9 second leg to Brian Huffman’s 52.2. Richard Roethel’s (50.8) continued to separate from the “B” team (Scott Teribury split 51.6) and set up a three-way battle with UNC-Pembroke and Lynchburg for Shaowei Tu. All three anchors arrived on the final straightaway with a shot at the win and they finished within 0.7 second of each other – unfortunately even Tu’s 49.0 split left the Captains just short of the other two. For the “B” team, Kwarteng Asare anchored with a 50.9 lap.

The Captains stay home for their next meet, the Blue & Silver Challenge at Pomoco Stadium.

For complete CNU Results, check out the Results Page.