The Clarion University men’s and women’s track and field teams are set for the 2003 PSAC meet being held this weekend, May 8-10, at Lock Haven University.

"We are ready to go," Clarion’s ninth-year head coach Pat Mooney said. "We have seven athletes going with the men’s team and 16 with the women’s team. I think compared to last season our women will do better, but that our men because of our numbers it will be hard to match the number of points we scored last season."

In 2002, Clarion’s women’s track and field team finished 7^th at the PSAC meet for the second straight season while the men’s team finished 11^th.

Clarion’s women’s team is led by seven athletes who are making at least there second consecutive appearance at the PSAC including four athletes who have provisional qualified for this year’s NCAA Division II meet already.

"We have qualified in nine events, and we can score in all nine events," Mooney said. "We have people seeded in the top six in a lot of those events and in other events we have people right on the cusp on being seeded in the top six. We diffidently have a more championship oriented team this year than we did last year."

The seven returning PSAC qualifiers are Melissa Terwilliger, who finished fourth in the 10,000 in 2002, Julie Evenoski, who finished third in the javelin and fifth in the shot put, Jen Klock, who finished second in the shot put, Jessica Crouch, who qualified in the javelin, Carrie Bullman, who finished second in the javelin, Jen Boerner, who finished fifth in the 1,500, Missy Harkins, who qualified in the steeplechase, and Elissa Till, who finished fifth in the pole vault.

Terwilliger is a national provisional qualifier in the 10,000, and Bullman, Evenoski and Crouch are all provisional qualifiers for the NCAA’s in the javelin.

"In my time here, we have never had four people on the provisional national list," Mooney said.

While Terwilliger’s best event is the 10,000, she will not be running that event at the PSAC’s and instead will run the 3,000 and the 5,000.

"Melissa has decided to run the 10,000 at nationals and it is a race that takes two or three weeks to recover from," Mooney said. "So she is going to run the 3,000 and the 5,000 at the PSAC meet, and I think she has a chance to place in both events."

With Terwilliger running the 3,000 and 5,000, Katie Jarzab, who qualified for PSAC’s in the 3,000 and 5,000, will move up to run the 10,000, an event she can run because of her qualifying time in the 5,000.

Also on the track, Bridget Sardo will run the 3,000 steeplechase for the Golden Eagles, an event she is seeded fourth in. Joining Sardo in the steeplechase will be Harkins and Sarah Reese.

"We are really strong in the steeplechase," Mooney said. "We have three of the 15 runners entered in the race, and it really is a race about attitude. Each of our runners helps push the other ones."

Boerner, who qualified in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000, will run the 800 and 1,500 for the Golden Eagles, and she is seeded sixth in the 1,500.

Evelyn Abiola, who qualified in both the 800 and 1,500, will run the 800 for Clarion, while Sarah Rodgers, who has qualified in the 800 and 1,500, will run the 1,500.

"We are very strong in the middle and longer distances," Mooney said. "We can place in anything from the 800 on up, and we will place in a lot of those races."

In the field, the Golden Eagles strengths lie in the throws, especially the javelin, where Clarion has three of the top seven seeds and four of the top 14.

"The PSAC is probably one of the strongest conferences in the nation in the javelin," Mooney said. "And we probably have the deepest group of javelin throwers in the PSAC. It should be a very competitive event, but I think we can have at least two place winners. It will not be easy, and it is not a given however. All of our throwers will have to be on their game to place."

Bullman, who also finished 12^th in the nation in the javelin last season, is the top seed for the Golden Eagles at No. 3, while Evenoski is seeded sixth and Crouch seventh. Freshman Gail Hepler rounds out the Golden Eagles javelin throwers with a 14^th seed.

"I think each of our throwers push each other," Mooney said.

Evenoski will also throw the shot put at PSAC’s for the Golden Eagles as will Klock, who is seeded third in the event. Klock also will participate in the hepthalon, where she is seeded eighth.

Till, who finished fifth last season and sixth in 2001 in the pole vault, is seeded just outside the top six this season. But she was in the same position the last two years before placing.

Two freshmen hold the Golden Eagle hopes in the jumps with Kristen Werder qualified in the long and triple jumps and Nikki Plassio qualified in the high jump.

"It is nice to see young blood coming in and qualifying," Mooney said. "It is a good start to their Clarion careers."

The strength of the men’s team heading into PSAC’s is the sprints. Of the six events Clarion has qualified in, five of them are sprinting events including the 100, 200, 400, 4x100 relay and 4x400 relay.

Dan Alderton was the top qualifier on the men’s team qualifying in the 100, 200, 400 and both relays, while Jarrett Williams qualified in the 100, 200 and both relays. Brandon Phillips qualified in the 100 and both relays.

While Alderton has qualified in five events, the Golden Eagles hope to run him in three including the 400 and both relays.

"Dan’s a little hobbled right now with a minor leg injury," Mooney said. "He hasn’t been able to finish the last two meets, but we are hoping he can run three races this weekend. The reason we chose to put him in the 400 is because it is the event he is seeded highest in. He is seeded seventh in the race."

Williams will run both the 100 and 200 as well as at least the 4x100 relay. He is seeded 8^th in the 100 and 9^th in the 200. Phillips will join Williams in the 100 and also on the 4x100 relay team.

David Duriancik is the lone Golden Eagle who isn’t sprinting having qualified in the 3,000 steeplechase.

Both Golden Eagle relay teams have an outside shot of placing as well.

The 4x100 will start with Alderton who will hand the baton to Tim Fabrizi who will give it to Williams with Phillips running the anchor leg.

The 4x400 relay could have any number of combinations running it with six athletes vying for the four spots including Alderton, Colin Hawkins, Fabrizi, Gerald Smith, Williams and Phillips.

"It is the last event of the meet, so we will wait and see how our guys are before deciding who will run in the race," Mooney said.

"With just seven qualifiers, it is going to be hard for the Golden Eagles to score many points, but that doesn’t deter Mooney.

"It is important to score points, and we wish we could score more," Mooney said. "But if you go by the seedings, right now we don’t score any points. But I think we will score some points. All of our runners are right on the edge of being in the scoring seeds, and I think some of them can do it."

GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES: The NCAA Division II Tournament will be held May 22-24 at Souther Illinois.