May 12, 2007

PRINCETON, N.J. - The women's track and field team is looking to add its fifth consecutive ECAC Outdoor Championships title this weekend. The meet is hosted by Princeton at William Weaver Track & Field Stadium. In the first two days of competition, the women's team has several finalists in sprints as well as top-10 placewinners in field events.

In the 100 meters, Pitt will have three finalists tomorrow. Raquel Bender (Penn Hills, Pa./Penn Hills), Shanea Calhoun (New Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross) and Shantea Calhoun (New Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross) all had top times in both the preliminaries and semifinals. The three sprinters also qualified for finals in the 200 meters as well.

In the 100-meter hurdles preliminaries, Mycaiah Clemons (New Kensington, Pa./Virginia Tech) finished second to qualify for tomorrow's finals with a time of 13.80. The Panthers had several competitors in the 400-meter hurdles with two finalists. Julianna Reed (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton) will look to defend her title tomorrow, and Martina Hallman (Miami, Fla./Miami Southridge) will also compete.

The Panthers qualified for tomorrow's competition in two sprint relays. The 400-meter relay squad of the Calhouns, Bender and Hallman finished first with a time of 45.32, a regional-qualifying time. Pitt's 1,600-meter relay squad of the Calhouns, Reed and Selena Sappleton (Brooklyn, N.Y./A.P. Randolph) finished second today with a time of 3:42.50.

In the long jump, Hallman placed third with a regional-qualifying mark of 6.02 meters. Janessa Murphy (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) came in fourth at 5.95 meters. Pitt freshman Kendall Butch (Butler, Pa./Butler) finished ninth in the pole vault with a height of 3.65 meters. The other field competitor was Kim Rorabaugh (Clymer, Pa./Purchase Line) who took 12th in the hammer throw with a distance of 49.59 meters.

Pitt had two long distance competitors in Friday's competition. Senior Nicki Angstadt (Kutztown, Pa./Fleetwood) placed 15th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Suzy Bossart (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Salem) finished 14th in the 10,000 meters.

The team had competitors in the 400 meters, 400-meter hurdles and 3,200-meter relay as well.