Complete Results

SOUTH HADLEY, MA (April 3, 2010) – Compiling 10 top-three finishes in a variety of events at the Mount Holyoke Invitational, the Vassar College women's track and field team continued to display its improvement and depth, competing in the eight-team event on Saturday.

Joining the Brewers and the host Lyons at the event were men's and women's track and field teams from Colby-Sawyer College, Smith College, Southern Maine University, and Wellesley College. The Brewers return to action next Saturday, April 10 at the College of New Jersey Invite.

“The weather was a lot more favorable for power events today than last week at RPI in the cold, and our sprinters and jumpers really performed well,” said head coach James McCowan

Sophomore Katy Hwang had a busy day for the Brewers, turning in top finishes in multiple events as she placed second in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 16.98, and capped that with a first place finish in the 400 meter hurdles in 1:11.75, followed by freshman Kate Warrick who recorded a time of 1:13.56 for second place. Hwang rounded out her day by placing second in the triple jump with a distance of 9.56 meters.

Freshman Emily Crnic also had multiple top-three finishes, placing second in the 400 meter dash with a time of 1:05.05 and third in the long jump with a distance of 4.61 meters, a personal best. In the 800 meter, freshman Kelly Holmes placed second with a time of 2:26.53 in her first attempt of the year at the event.

“That was Kelly's first 800 meter since high school and she ran really well,” said McCowan. “She did a great job feeling out the strategy of the race and running very smart.”

Despite hot weather conditions, Vassar continued to show its strength in the middle distance and distance running events despite hot weather conditions, no more so than in the 1,500 meter where four Brewers landed in the top 10. Sophomore Johanna Spangler (4:55.08) finished second, sophomore Elizabeth Forbes (4:58.46) placed fourth, sophomore Melissa McClung (5:15.57) followed in sixth, and senior captain Nina Huang (5:20.32) finished 10th.

“For Johanna and Elizabeth, the 1,500 was a big step down in distance because they both ran the 5k last week, but it went really well for them and they both recorded personal bests,” said McCowan. “Nina and Melissa have been running the event week after week for us and they continued to run well.”

The Brewers also had a strong showing in the 5k as sophomore Samantha Creath placed third with a time of 19:56.70, followed by freshman Arial Shogren (20:37.36) in fifth, and sophomore Hanna Ziobrowski (21:02.15) in seventh.

In the throwing events, freshman Laura Van Eerde, last week's Liberty League Rookie of the Week, out-distanced a field of 15 to win the javelin throw with a new school record distance of 32.10. She also had a personal best in the discus with a distance of 27.46.

“Laura threw really well today and what's great is we know she will continue to throw farther and farther,” said McCowan. “She's really talented and strong and has so much room to grow. She's been retooling her discus throw which was very apparent in her success today.”