Littlejohn leads Navy to Second-Place Finish at Military Championships

March 27, 2010

LEXINGTON, Va. - Freshman Arabia Littlejohn won the 200 and 400-meter sprint events and the Navy women's track & field team posted a total of 11 runner-up finishes to place second at the Military Championships Saturday at Virginia Military Institute's Foster Stadium.

Air Force won 11 events, including six of the eight field events, to pace the field with 237 points. Navy took second with 193 points, 30 points ahead of third-place Army. Host VMI took fourth with 64 points, while Citadel and Coast Guard rounded out the field with 49 and 11 points, respectively.

"We had a pretty good day overall," said Navy head coach Carla Criste. "We received a number of strong efforts as evidenced by all of our second and third-place finishes. We'll keep at it and will be ready to go for the Army meet in a few weeks."

Littlejohn took the two sprint events on the day, winning the 200 meters in a time of 26.17 and the 400 meters with a clocking of 57.87. The Mids would claim the top-two spots in the 200, with sophomore Mansfield Murph finishing as the runner-up in 26.40 seconds.

Sophomore Jess Palacio turned in yet another strong weekend, claiming second-place finishes in the 800- (2:12.73) and 1,500-meter run(4:36.90).

Additional Navy second-place finishes were recorded on the day by senior Krystina Johnson in the 100-meter dash (12.42), sophomore Katie Taylor with a PR in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:33.62) and sophomore Mollie Hebda in the 5,000-meter run (17:39.12).

Highlighting the field events, it was senior Mia Blundetto producing a PR and ECAC qualifying-toss of 169'5" (51.65m) to finish second overall. Junior Ashley Bucholz also contributed a second-place finish in the long jump (18'2.5"; 5.55 meters), while freshman Kristin Smith was the runner-up in the high jump (5'3"; 1.60 meters).

The Mids took second to Army in the 4x100-meter relay in 49.03 and were also the runners-up in the 4x400-meter race, this time finishing behind Air Force, in 3:55.33.

Navy is off next weekend and will return to action on Saturday, April 10 against Army in the annual outdoor Star Meet in West Point, N.Y.

Final Standings
1. Air Force, 237 points
2. Navy, 193
3. Army, 163
4. VMI, 64
5. Citadel, 49
6. Coast Guard 11

## Go Navy! ##

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