Feb. 19, 2010
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, RI - Seven Explorer men and five Explorer women advanced to Saturday's finals through strong preliminary races on Friday, the first day of the 2010 Atlantic 10 Indoor championships held at Rhode Island's Mackal Fieldhouse. The men are currently in fifth place with 17 points, while the women are in eighth with eight points.
Defending 1000m champion Korey Edwards automatically qualified for the event final via a top finish in the prelim. Edwards posted an IC4A qualifying time of 2:29.46 to win his heat, and he ended up with the fastest time overall. He will defend his title at approximately 12:50 PM on Saturday.
Joining Edwards in the 1000m final is freshman Paul Reilly. The rookie ran a 2:30.38, the sixth place time on the day.
The Explorers placed two athletes in the 800m final. Terence McPeak was third in the fast second heat and fifth overall to advance. He ran a 1:57.07. Dave Laratta also edged his way into Saturday's final via a 1:58.30 ninth place finish.
Rashad Little found his way into two finals, the 200m and 400m. Little won his 400m heat and had the fourth fastest time overall with a 49.76 mark. He squeaked into the 200m final with a 22.82 time for 10th overall.
Rookie Wayne Bartholomew advanced to the 500m final with a 1:06.09 for eighth place overall.
Friday's competition also featured finals in several events. The distance medley relay squad of Trevon Rainford, Wayne Bartholomew, Colin Barrett and Sean Ward finished third in one of the most exciting races of the night. They combined for an IC4A time of 10:03.08, within one second of Charlotte's winning time of 10:02.14. Massachusetts edged in second with a 10:02.75. The very fast race saw the top four teams crush the IC4A standard of 10:19.70.
Senior Jake Holler led the field squad by medaling in the pole vault. Holler took home the bronze with a vault of 4.35m (14-03.25).
The 5000m final also ran Friday night, with Tyler Jones finishing fifth (14:49.13) and Dave Hausherr in 10th (15:11.51).
The Explorer women also had a successful first day of competition with five advancing to the finals and two ECAC times being reached.
Caitlin Storbeck and Kellilyn Fierras won their respective heats and finished with the top two 1000m preliminary times. Storbeck clocked a 2:58.16 to win heat 3, and Fierras ran a 2:58.71 to win the second heat.
Wendy Hutchinson advanced to Saturday's 800m final via a second place finish in her heat with an ECAC qualifying time of 2:14.29. She was in a strong heat that featured three ECAC times.
The distance medley relay squad posted the other ECAC time of the night, as Hutchinson, Courtney McKnight, Maureen Benner and Storbeck combined to run a 12:05.12. The women's DMR race was power-packed as well, with the top five teams running ECAC times.
Meghan Lutz finished sixth in the 5000m final with a time of 17:36.61, a very strong first A-10 championship race in what proved to be a power-packed field. Lutz was the highest-finishing freshman by far - the next highest finished 17th.
Also advancing to Saturday's finals are Jalessa Graham in the 200m and McKnight in the 500m. Graham earned her ticket to the final with a 25.73 in the prelim to come in 10th overall.
McKnight also edged into the 500m final with a 10th place finish. She clocked a 1:17.94.
The Explorers return to Mackal Fieldhouse on Saturday for the final day of competition. The field events begin at 9:00 AM and the running events start at 11:00 AM.
