Women’s Track and Field Emerges From Patriot League Championships With a Sixth Place Finish
Young Raiders have several surprises and few disappointments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Julie Greco
PHONE: (315) 228-7860
Feb. 23, 2003

Results

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Colgate women’s track and field team had several surprises and few disappointments as they finished sixth overall at the 13th-annual Patriot League Championships on Sunday.   

The meet started with a bang on Friday for the Raiders when sophomore Nolana Quince (Syracuse, N.Y.) clinched second-place in the pentathlon with a Colgate record 3,171 points to make the all-Patriot League team and score eight points for the team.  Freshman Emily Thomson (Bellerica, Mass.) managed sixth-place in the event to garner one point for the Raiders. 

On Saturday, sophomore Julie Stephenson (Hyannis, Mass.) clocked 8.56 in the 55-meter high hurdles, her second best effort ever, but failed to advance to a very competitive final. Sophomore Beth Stephenson (Hyannis, Mass.) took seventh in the long jump with a leap of 17'10 1/2" while Quince snagged seventh in the triple jump with a mark of 36'1 1/4".

On Sunday, gold went to freshman Sarah Hildebrand (Fairport, N.Y.) as she ran a 35-second last lap in the 3,000-meter run to surprise the field and qualify for a berth at the ECAC Championships with a time of 10:24.68.  

Junior Andria Graham (Mississaugua, Ontario) took fourth-place in the 500-meter dash, improving on her personal-best by a full second, with a time of 1:17.34, while senior co-captain Leeann Teager took sixth in the event, running 1:17.51. In the 1,000-meter run senior co-captain Danielle Gabay (Mississaugua, Ontario), who was favored to win but running against doctor's advice after a severe illness last week, managed fifth-place with a time of 2:59.16. Despite a disappointing run, Gabay will advance to the ECAC Championships in the 1,000-meter due to her time of 2:55.12 which she achieved at the Boston University Valentine’s Day Invite.

Staffed by a team of freshman, Colgate's distance medley relay team put in a gutsy effort to take fourth with a new Colgate freshman record of 12:33.64. Lia Cross (Skaneateles, N.Y.) led off in the 1,200 with a personal-best time of 3:49 and handed off to Colleen Rice (Liverpool, N.Y.) who ran the 400 in 62.3 before passing the baton to Kate Wood (Houghton, Mich.) who ran a first-ever attempt at 800-meters with time of 2:22 and handed off to Emily Tansey (Scitvate, Mass.) who anchored in a time of 5:18, after taking out the first 800 in 2:30. 

The 4x400-meter relay was no surprise as the veteran team of Teager, Stephenson, Quince and Graham took fourth-place with a time of 3:58.11.

Missing from action but expected to return for the spring season, were freshman high jumper Shannon O'Hagan (Sarnia, Ontario), out with a stress fracture and freshman Lisa Germain (Queensbury, NY.), out with a hamstring tear. O’Hagan has cleared 5’6” and was ranked second in the high jump and Germain was picked to finish fourth for triple jump, fifth for 55-meter and sixth for long jump in the Patriot League. The loss of these two stand-outs along with Gabay's misfortune cost the Raiders two places in the team standings. 

The Bucknell team finished the competition in first-place with 180 points while Army (120) nipped Navy (114) for second and third place, respectively. Lehigh took fourth (48) while American took fifth (48). Colgate placed sixth (34), Lafayette (26) came in seventh and Holy Cross finished last (8).

Gabay and Hildebrand will travel to the Reggie Lewis Center on March 7th to compete at the ECAC Championships, while the rest of the team prepares for what promises to be a very exciting outdoor season for a young squad which is eighty-five percent freshmen and sophomores. 

Points Scorers: