Jan. 19, 2008
Results
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy pole vaulter Jacqui Charnigo (Sr./Medina, Ohio) produced an ECAC qualifying mark on Saturday to lead the women's track & field squad to a first-place team score over James Madison, Mount St. Mary's, UNC-Wilmington and William & Mary in Halsey Field House.
The Midshipmen (6-0) tallied 184.5 points to edge second-place James Madison's 170 points and third place UNC-Wilmington's 168 points. William & Mary came in fourth place with 140.5 points and Mount St. Mary's rounded out the field with 92 points.
With Navy's first-place performance, it extended its unbeaten streak in regular season scored meets to 51, dating to the 2004-05 season. The Midshipmen have not lost on their home turf during indoor action since the 1999-00 season, a stretch of 67-straight victories.
"Overall, I think we had a pretty solid performance," stated Navy head coach Carla Criste. "We have a lot of work to do and look forward to the challenge. I was truly impressed with the younger throwers and distance runners today."
Charnigo closed out Saturday's action with a height of 12'3-1/2" (3.75 meters) in the pole vault to top the field. She then attempted to clear the NCAA Championship provisional qualifying mark of 12'11-1/2" (3.95 meters), but could not successfully get over the bar in her three tries. Her performance matched her season-best clearance set in the season-opener last month.
Navy opened the meet in fine fashion, owning the top-two marks in both the weight throw and 5,000-meter run events. Meg Joyce (Jr./West Kingston, R.I.) won the weight throw with a distance of 44'6" (13.56 meters), followed by teammate Mia Blundetto's (So./Apple Valley, Minn.) second-place toss of 42'0" (12.80 meters). Amy Watson (So./Hampstead, Md.) paced all runners in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:12.29, only 1.40 seconds ahead of second-place runner Erica Ziel (So./Saginaw, Mich.).
The Midshipmen also finished second and third in two events. Vicki Moore (Sr./Burke, Va.) placed second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:18.14 and Abby Gesecki (So./Nanticoke, Pa.) finished third with a 2:23.17 showing. Kyleigh Millhouse (Sr./Boiling Springs, Pa.) came in second in the 3,000-meter run with a 10:30.50 showing, soon followed by Jenny Rubin's (So./Papillion, Neb.) third-place 10:32.85 clocking.
Navy's distance medley relay of Katie Rentz (Fr./San Diego, Calif.), Gesecki, Erin Neumann (Fr./Wray, Colo.) and Moore combined for a second-place time of 12:44.25 to close out the track portion of the meet.
The Midshipmen return to action next Saturday when they head to the Patriot Games at George Mason's Recreation Sports Complex.
