RICHARD WINS TWO PSAC TITLES TO LEAD CLARION WOMEN’S TEAM TO 9TH AT PSAC TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS; EAGLE MEN TAKE 13TH BEHIND THIRD PLACE FINISH BY CLARK
Erin Richard
Chris Clark
Erin Richard won PSAC titles in both the 1,500 and 3,000 Saturday to earn 20 of Clarion’s 41 teams points while helping the Golden Eagles to a ninth place finish at the 2006 PSAC Track and Field Championships at California.
In the men’s championship, sophomore Chris Clark, the lone Eagle to run Saturday, finished third in the 5,000 earning six of Clarion’s seven points for a 13th place ending.
Richard is believed to be the first Golden Eagle women’s runner to win PSAC Championships in two individual events in the same season. She is also the first Clarion women’s athlete to win a PSAC Title since Melissa Yearous won the second of two consecutive high jump crowns in 2000.
The win in the 1,500, which Richard completed in a school-record and NCAA Provisional qualifying time of 4:37.20, could be considered a bit of an upset considering she entered the race ranked ninth in the PSAC. The previous school record in the event was 4:40.14 set in 2000 by Maureen Long.
On the other hand, Richard was the top ranked runner entering the meet in the 3,000, and she didn’t disappoint winning the race in 10:05.01, six seconds of her school record NCAA provisional time set earlier this year.
Tasha Wheatley scored six points for the Golden Eagle women, coached by second-year head man Daniel Caulfield, with a third-place finish in the 3,000 Steeple Chase (11:22.88), the second straight year she has finished in the Top 6 (6th in 2005).
Holly Urban and Sonya Swanson each added four points apiece for Clarion.
Urban was fifth in the 800 in a time of 2:17.8, while Swanson was fifth in the 200 in a time of 25.92.
Freshman Diane Kress scored two points Saturday by finishing seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 36-4 3/4, while the 4x400 relay team of Swanson, Urban, Kate Ehrensberger and Keisha Perry also earned two points by finishing seventh in a time of 3:59.81.
Clarion’s 41 points, including the three earned by Katie Jarzab with a sixth-place finish in the 10,000 Friday, were the most for the Eagles at PSAC’s since they scored 43 while finishing sixth in 2003.
Three additional athletes participated Saturday for the Eagle women’s team but didn’t score.
Jarzab was 12th in the 5,000 (19:05.27), Autumn Shaffer was 12th in the Steeple Chase (12:23.98) and Nicole Lockwood was 14th in the discus (114-5).
GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES – Ben Bevevino’s eighth place finish in the long jump Friday earned Clarion the additional men’s point … The seven points scored by the men’s team are the most since it scored eight while finishing 11th in 2002. Last year, Clarion’s women’s team scored one point, while the men didn’t score … Richard won the 3,000 at PSAC Indoors as well… Clarion will find out sometime in the next couple of weeks if any of their provisional qualifiers will compete at the NCAA’s May 25-27 in Emporia, Kansas… Slippery Rock won the women’s team title with 207 points, while Shippensburg took the men’s title with 168.