2007 ODAC Track and Field
Women's Preview

TEAM PREVIEW
The 2007 Outdoor ODAC Track & Field Championships look to be a great one.  Fresh off an ODAC Indoor title the reigning 2006 Outdoor ODAC Champion Roanoke College Maroons look to be the team to beat.  Roanoke won the Indoor title by showing their talent and depth in the sprint races to hold off a distance-led Washington & Lee team 174 to 161.  Those two appear to be the front runners leading into this year’s competition.  Lynchburg College has won seven outdoor championships since 1995 and looks to battle with Bridgewater College and Eastern Mennonite University for the third through fifth spots, while newcomer Virginia Wesleyan continues to show improvement as they look to pick up from last season’s sixth place finish.   

SPRINTS
The Maroons of Roanoke College are very talented and deep and are the class of the field.  The extremely talented freshman Robin Yerkes of Roanoke comes into the Championship with the top time in each of the sprint races, all of which are national qualifying marks.  She leads the 100m dash at 12.26 seconds and is followed by two Maroon teammates in Kate Mason and Tonya Phillippe at 12.44 and 12.48 seconds.

In the 200m dash the field is again led by RC’s Yerkes who enters the meet with a time of 25.04, currently the fifth-fastest time in the nation among Division III athletes.  She is followed by teammates Kate Mason at 25.78 and Tonya Phillippe 25.81.

The 400m dash features three ladies that have separated themselves from the rest of the field.  Roanoke again holds down the top two spots with two national qualifiers in Robin Yerkes and defending conference champion Tonya Phillippe at 56.40 and 56.93.  Lynchburg College’s Sarah Funderburke is in the third position with a time of 58.99 as she looks to challenge the two Maroons.

HURDLES
The 100m hurdles are led by defending conference champion Meredith Withers of Roanoke with a time of 15.02.  Michelle Leahman of Eastern Mennonite chases Withers at 15.46 followed by Washington & Lee’s Maggie Sutherland at 16.01.

In the 400m hurdles the top two remain the same with Withers leading Leahman with times of 1:07.65 and 1:08.18.  Roanoke’s Dominique McCoy holds down the third position with a time of 1:10.19.

MIDDLE DISTANCE / DISTANCE
The Washington & Lee Generals lead very strong ladies group in the middle distance and distance races.  The top three times in the 800m run coming into the Championships all belong to the Generals.  Elizabeth Webb leads the field at 2:20.77 followed by teammates Dorothy Todd (2:24.65) and Elizabeth Krausnick (2:24.82).  Defending conference champion Amanda Diver of Lynchburg College also looms in the field.

The 1500m run has two Generals in the top spot as Elizabeth Webb comes into the championship with a 4:49.00 followed by teammate Becca Taylor (4:53.84).  Completing the top three in the field is senior Hornet Ashley Armistead of Lynchburg with a time of 4:58.19.

The 5000m run is again led by two Generals as Webb comes into Saturday with a season best 18:32.21 and Taylor directly behind Webb at 18.38.90.  Roanoke’s Mallory McCaine has a strong performance in the third spot at 18:58.28.

JUMPS
Dominique McCoy and Jaleesa Osbourne of Roanoke have the top two spots in the long jump and triple jump.  McCoy has the top mark in the long jump at 5.59 meters followed by Osborne (5.56) and the two hold suit in the triple jump with McCoy leading at 10.87 meters and Osbourne ranked second at 10.61.  Two Lynchburg Hornets finish out the top three in the long and triple jump.  Kyra Richardson comes into the long jump as the third seed with a jump of 5.00 meters and Danielle Garofalo rounds out the third spot in the triple jump with a leap of 9.83 meters.

The pole vault competition will be lead by Mary Mohay of Lynchburg.  She comes into the event with a NCAA national provisionally qualifying height of 3.50 meters.  Mohay is followed by fellow Hornet Heather Shaw (2.90) and W&L’s Elizabeth Brandler at 2.74 meters.

The high jump looks to be a hotly contested event with five women over 1.52 meters.  Meredith Withers, Roanoke’s talented multi-event athlete, comes into the event tied with Bridgewater’s Meagan Hicks for the top clearance at 1.57 meters.  Three women follow the top two ladies all having cleared a height of 1.52 meters.  That list includes; W&L’s Maggie Sutherland and Alysen Kuck as well as Lynchburg’s Danielle Garofalo.

THROWS
The shot put is lead by Miranda Wolfe of Eastern Mennonite who has a season best throw of 11.91 meters.  She is joined by teammate Dominique Hull at the top with a best throw of 11.32 meters.  Bridgewater’s multi talented freshman Courtney Hartman rounds out the top three with a season best mark of 10.75.

The discus is again led by another product of Coach McGuffin at EMU with Dominique Hull coming into the Championship with a mark of 40.89 meters.  Roanoke’s Katie Suehs is in the second position (37.39) while the Royals’ Miranda Wolfe (32.66) is in the third spot.

The number one mark in the hammer throw is by the Maroons’ Katie Suehs (42.32) who is followed closely by April Miller from Bridgewater College at 41.40 meters.  Heather Jones of Lynchburg completes the top three performances in that event with a distance of 35.76 meters.

The javelin could be one of the best competitions of the day.  Four girls are separated by less than eight feet.  Roanoke’s Aimee Szumiez has the top spot coming into the meet with a throw of 34.33 meters.  She should be contested by Bridgewater’s Sammy Mizerak (33.05), teammate Meredith Withers (32.77) and Lynchburg’s Mary Mohay (31.87) all of whom are all close behind.

RELAYS
Roanoke College has the fastest 4x100 meter relay team coming into the Championship with a time of 47.41.  That time currently places the Roanoke ladies third in the nation among Division III schools.  They are followed by Bridgewater College at 49.58 and Lynchburg College at 51.39.

The 4x400 meter relay is again led by the Maroons of Roanoke with a season best time of 4:03.74.  W&L and Bridgewater finish out the top three coming into Saturday’s meet with times of 4:12.57 and 4:16.12 respectively.