GOLDEN EAGLES RICHARD, WHEATLEY TO COMPETE AT PENN RELAYS

            Clarion University’s Erin Richard (Erie/McDowell) and Tasha Wheatley (Saltsburg/Kiski Area) will both compete in the prestigious Penn Relays Thursday in Philadelphia.

            Richard, a junior, will run in the Olympic Development 5,000-meter run at 8:45 p.m., while Wheatley, a senior, will run in the College Championship 3,000-meter Steeple Chase at 7:45 p.m.

            “I am very pleased that both Tasha and Erin were accepted into the Penn Relays,” Clarion’s interim head coach Jayson Resch said. “The Penn Relays have a long history, and the top competitors in the nation who up to it. So, it is a great thing that we have two of our women’s runners entered in the meet. Both of them work hard and are very disciplined. They deserve everything they accomplish.”

            For Richard, qualifying for the Penn Relays is another notch on what has been a great competiting year. She was an All-Region Cross County runner in the fall taking 11^th at the NCAA Division II Regional meet. She followed that up by winning the Mile at the PSAC Indoor championships in late February before going on to earn All-American honors in the 5,000 with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA D-II national indoor meet in Boston. She was the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association East Region Indoor Track Athlete of the Year and has twice been named PSAC Women’s Track Athlete of the Week (once indoors, once outdoors). Last year, she won three individual PSAC Championships (Outdoor 1,500 & 3,000; Indoor 3,000) while also running a leg on the PSAC Championship Indoor Distance Medley Relay team. Richard went on to finish ninth in the nation in the 3,000 and 14^th in the 5,000 at the NCAA D-II outdoor championships.

            “Erin is coming off a great indoor season,” Resch said. “She has worked tremendously hard, and her training has been going extremely well. I believe she is ready to break 17 minutes in the 5K at the Penn relays and qualify for the NCAA Championships.”

            Wheatley is also having a solid competiting year that started when she earned All-PSAC honors in Cross County with a fifth-place finish at the PSAC Championships. She went on to take 20^th at the Regional meet just missing All-Region honors before finishing sixth in the both the 3,000 and 5,000 at the PSAC Indoor meet. Last season, Wheatley finished third at outdoor PSAC’s in the 3,000 Steeple Chase after finishing sixth in the event in 2005.

            “Tasha opened up the season at Princeton with her best time in the Steeple Chase, which qualified her for the NCAA meet,” Resch said. “Based on her training and how well she is racing, our goal going into the Penn Relays is to try to break the school record by five or more seconds and run in the 11:06 range, which will move her up the list going into the NCAA Championships.”

            GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES: The rest of Clarion’s team returns to action Saturday at Baldwin-Wallace before competiting at the PSAC Championships May 3-5 at Shippensburg.

Erin Richard

Tasha Wheatley