January 27-28, 2012 -- Liberty Open

Post date: Feb 18, 2012 9:44:24 PM

For the first time in several years, the Captains traveled to Liberty University for their indoor Open and lined up with the Flames and several of the Big South rivals. The Captains posted another 22 lifetime bests and six new All-Time Performances, including...

Women's 4x800m Relay Takes Down School Record

Roethel, Elliott Clear Nationals-Worthy Heights

It has been several years since CNU visited the Tolsma Center, though it is a familiar venue for several Captains as the site of the Virginia State AA Indoor Championships. The squad made themselves right at home and wasted no time making changes to the CNU All-Time Lists. The headliner came from the quartet of Erin Rolaf (Woodbridge, VA), Dira Hansen (Culpeper, VA), Jessica McClelland (Stafford, VA),

and Jade Zaharoff (Vienna, VA) as they claimed the School Record in the 4x800m Relay. Rolaf opened with a 2:28.8 and Hansen assumed the race lead heading in to her third lap and split a 2:19.4. UNC-Wilmington pulled back in to the lead and Winthrop was close behind as Hansen handed-off to McClelland. The sophomore battled with Winthrop's third leg and completed her four laps in 2:32.5. Senior Zaharoff matched that split (2:32.4) and stopped the clock for the Captains at 9:53.12 - more than 12 seconds faster than the previous record which stood since 1986.

Meanwhile on the infield, senior Jill Raines (Jeffersonton, VA) lofted the 20lb Weight to a new PR 11.50m/37-8.75 to claim the #10 spot on the CNU All-Time List. Saturday's events started with another Weight Throw best - Jonathon Wade (Rocky Mount, VA) further improved his #7 ranking in CNU History with another PR 13.28m/43-7. Two freshmen throwers pushed indoor bests in the Shot Put - Kendrick McMinn (Virginia Beach, VA) for the men (10.68m/35-0.5) and Rashidat Omotosho (Alexandria, VA) for the women (7.58m/24-10.5)

Dira Hansen did a little work in the Triple Jump and landed a near-PR 11.11m/36-5.5 while fellow senior Cheria Jackson (Woodbridge, VA) dropped a 5.08m/16-8 effort in the Long Jump as both prepped their secondary events for the upcoming Conference Championships. Caitlin Miller (Huntington, NY) was just a centimeter off her Triple Jump best (10.52m/34-6.25) and Olivia Green (Fairfax, VA) jumped a PR 4.71m/15-5.5) in the Long Jump. On the men's side, Richard Roethel (Farmingville, NY) started a great day with a Long Jump just a couple inches shy of his best (6.54m/21-5.5) and Kwarteng Asare (Fairfax, VA) was similarly close to his Triple Jump best (13.65m/44-9.5).

The vertical events saw a big breakthrough for sophomore Christopher Comeau (Chesapeake, VA) as he added nearly a foot to his indoor best Pole Vault clearance. At 4.20m/13-9.25 he also moves in to a tie with Roethel at #8 on the CNU All-Time List. Roethel, meanwhile, carried the momentum from the Long Jump in to a PR 8.80 run in the 60m Hurdles and another PR 51.59 in the 400m. His favorite event, however, is the High Jump and he finished his day there with a big PR 2.09m/6-10.25 clearance that ranks =#2 in Division III. It also improves his CNU #2 All-Time Ranking.

McClelland, Hansen, Rolaf, Zaharoff

4x800m School Record

Jenna Elliott

Earlier in the day, Jenna Elliott (Fredericksburg, VA) set the precedent in the High Jump as she, too, got in to a great rhythm. She finished at 1.67m/5-5.75 - a PR that also improves her standing as CNU's #2 All-Time High Jumper. It also moves her in to the top 10 on the Division III season lists and was the height that made the cut for last year's Championships.

Trackside, the Captains produced several more breakthrough PRs, one of the biggest coming in the 3,000m from Aaron Zook (Harrisonburg, VA). He rolled to a 33 second best over 15 laps with a 9:18.18 finish. Raymond Gamache (King George, VA) and Donovan Lewin (Cape Charles, VA) posted Mile bests at 4:35.79 and 4:38.34, respectively. In the women's Mile, Erin Rolaf cut a second off her previous indoor best to 5:28.75. At half the distance, Jessica McClelland shaved a few tenths of a second off her indoor PR (2:28.28). The Captains also added PRs in the less-often run 1,000m (Andrew Larkin (Herndon, VA) at 2:42.97) and 500m (Wilson Bever (Chantilly, VA) at 1:11.35).

On the straight-away, Kristen Bell (Vienna, VA) and Olivia Green sprinted to 60m PRs in 8.29 and 8.38, respectively. Robert Mayes (Culpeper, VA) dropped his best to 7.20 in the men's competition. Over the hurdles, Fredsal Walker (Herndon, VA) (9.67) and Danielle Crowley (Rockville, MD) (10.04) also posted lifetime bests.

CNU's men moved up on the National Meet Rankings to 15th while the women are just outside the Top-25 (29th). The men slipped to 3rd and the women to 2nd on the South/Southeast Region Index. In the Dual Meet Rankings, the men are #11 and the women are #14 in the Nation and both head the South/Southeast region

The Captains return home on Saturday, February 4th for the Vince Brown Invitational.

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