West Virginia Women and Notre Dame Men Lead By Narrow Margins After First Day of BIG EAST Indoor Track Championships

West Virginia Women and Notre Dame Men Lead By Narrow Margins After First Day of BIG EAST Indoor Track Championships
Courtesy: BIG EAST Conference
Release: 02/20/2010

New York, N.Y. - Competition began at the 2010 BIG EAST Indoor Track Championships at The Armory in New York, N.Y., with the West Virginia women and the Notre Dame men leading the packs.

The Mountaineer women stole the top two positions of the 5,000 meters to earn 18 points. Junior Marie Louise Asselin ran away from the pack to earn first with a time of 15:58.15, followed by senior Clara Grandt who crossed the line at 16:04.24. The closest competitor to the WVU duo was Notre Dame senior Lindsey Ferguson who came in at 16:27.45.

WVU also took first in the pentathlon as junior Chelsea Carrier tallied 3,994 points. The Mountaineers have earned the pentathlon title in three of the past five BIG EAST Indoor Championships.

The Louisville women throwers performed as expected as the nation's top two weight throwers finished one-two in New York. Junior D'Ana McCarty earned the title for the second straight year with a toss of 22.56 meters. Senior Jere' Summers earned second with a mark of 22.35.

The Cardinals stand in second place behind the Mountaineers with 38 points. Syracuse rounds out the top three with 30 points.

On the men's side, Notre Dame leads by 1.5 points with 46.5 totaled after the first day of competition. The Irish were led by sophomore Kevin Schipper who took first in the pole vault. Schipper topped the bar at 5.10 meters to earn 10 points. ND also got a push in the points from senior Jake Walker and junior Greg Davis who earned second place in the 5,000 meters and weight throw, respectively. Walker finished in a time of 14:04.41 while Davis threw 18.98 meters.

At 45 points, Louisville stands in second place. The Cardinals were led by junior Matt Bruce's first-place finish in the 5,000 meters. Bruce crossed the line at 14:02.37. Senior Rudon Bastian also earned a title for Louisville. The senior took first in the long jump for the second straight year with an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark of 7.87 meters. The Cardinals have won the long jump for four consecutive BIG EAST Indoor Championships.

The DePaul field contingent also had an impressive outing as senior Brad Millar threw an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 20.80 meters in the weight throw for first place. Senior Joe Strawder took second in the long jump with a mark of 7.47 meters.