Jan. 27, 2006

NEW YORK - Navy women's track and field junior Justine Whipple (Duxbury, Mass.) nearly set a school record in the 5,000-meter run as many Midshipmen performed well in the non-team scoring Armory Invitational hosted by Princeton on Friday evening.

Whipple ran the 5,000 meters in 17:04.79, just .39-second off the school record set by Melissa Foon six years ago. The junior's mark eclipsed her previous career-best performance of 17:18.05, set earlier this season on Dec. 1, 2005. Her effort on Friday was 28.85 seconds than the ECAC Championship qualifying standard.

Junior Kirsten Andrews (New Holland, Pa.) won the pole vault with a season-best showing of 12'1-1/2" (3.70 meters). Andrews has produced an ECAC qualifying mark in the pole vault in each of Navy's last-three meets. The junior also provided Navy with a strong showing in the 60-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line in 8.96 seconds.

Classmate Loni Forsythe (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led all sprinters in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.75 seconds. Forsythe's time was a season-best and only .02-second away from her career-best effort at Army last season.

Sophomore Vicki Moore (Burke, Va.) became the Navy's fifth representative at ECAC Championship in March following her efforts on Friday night. Moore qualified with a time of 2:56.09 in the 1,000-meter run, a career-fastest performance, top place fourth overall.

Senior Cayanne McFarlane (Fairbanks, Alaska) produced a second-place effort in the 20-lb. weight throw, courtesy of a career-best 50'11" (15.52 meters) throw on Friday evening.

Navy returns home to host Army in the annual Star Meet on Saturday, Feb. 4, in Halsey Field House. The meet is slated to begin at 2 p.m.