March 7, 2009
Virgina Tech Results
Notre Dame Results
BLACKSBURG, Va./SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Nittany Lion track and field teams took full advantage of "Last Chance Weekend" on Saturday, recording several NCAA improvements at the Virginia Tech Last Chance and the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame. Among the outstanding performances on the day was a school-record run from Aleesha Barber (Decatur, Ga.), who ran 8.16 in the 60-meter hurdles at Virginia Tech to move up in the NCAA rankings, and shatter her own Penn State standard.
Barber breezed through three rounds of the hurdles, clocking identical 8.16's in both the semi-finals and finals. Barber's mark, which bettered her own school-record 8.19 from last season, is currently among the top 10 in the NCAA. Senior Clarence Smith (Coatesville, Pa.) also climbed the NCAA lists thanks to a leap of 52-6 (16.00) in the triple jump.
Sophomore Shavon GReaves (Lakewood, N.J.) also posted an event win, taking the 200-meters in a personal-best and provisional-qualifying 23.76. Also improving on her NCAA mark was senior Gayle Hunter (Riverside, Calif.), who recorded a leap of 20-7 (6.27) to finish second in the long jump.
At Notre Dame, a pair of Nittany Lions 800-meter runners saw improvements in their provisional marks, as sophomore Lionel Williams (Staten Island, N.Y.) posted a PR 1:49.27 to finish second in the elite Wilson 800 section, with classmate Ryan Foster (Tasmania, Australia) turning in a career-best 1:49.68 for sixth in the event.
Freshman Vince McNally (Smoketown, Pa.) also notched a career best at South Bend, running 8:07.75 in the 3,000-meters, to finish 11th overall.
More to come...