Jan. 15, 2011

Complete Results | Photo Gallery

Annapolis, Md. - The Navy women's track and field team won three individual events at the Navy Invitational on Saturday afternoon in the Wesley A. Brown Field House against an eight-team field. Navy went 6-1 on the day and is now 15-1 on the season in dual-counted meets. Penn topped the eight-team field.

Junior Jess Palacio qualified for the ECAC Championships with a first-place time in the mile run of 4:56.93 to earn 10 team points for the Mids.

Junior Amanda Phelps continued to be undefeated in the weight throw, as she won the event for the third time this season. Phelps unleashed an ECAC-qualifying mark of 53'11-1/4", which is the 10th-best throw in Navy indoor history.

Navy went 1-2 in the 5,000-meter run on the strength of sophomores Brigid Byrne and Liz Milewski. Byrne won the event with a time of 17:56.34 and Milewski was right behind her with a time of 17:57.24.

Senior Ashley Bucholz earned eight team points by placing second in the triple jump with a distance of 37'1/2". Bucholz also scored in the long jump by placing eighth (17'4").

Other top performances for Navy included junior Mansfield Murph placing third (1:16.08) in the 500-meter run, junior Ashley Aitken finishing third in the 60-meter hurdles (9.17) and Kristin Smith and Christine Scales each clearing 5'5" to finish third and fifth in the high jump.

Junior Katie Taylor (10:12.51) and junior Mollie Hebda (10:13.20) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 3,000-meter run.

James Madison's Kelsey Seymour, Jaclyn Smith, Brittany Wilhem and Katie Harman won an exciting distance medley relay (12:05.83). The Bulldogs held off a late charge by Navy's Jess Palacio, who took the baton on the anchor leg (1,600 meters) 100 meters back. Palacio caught JMU's anchor with 200 meters to go, but couldn't move into first. Navy placed second with a time of 12:09.53 in the event, the 10th-fastest time in Navy history.

Additionally, James Madison's Marissa McDonald established a new facility record with a long jump of 19'8-1/4" (6.00m) and Mount St. Mary's Allison Vanek matched the field house record in the pole vault with a clear of 12'3-1/2".

The Mids will return to action at the Patriot Games on January 29.

Team Scores

Penn                129.5Navy                102James Madison           85Mount St. Mary's        78Maryland-Eastern Shore      73UNC-Wilmington          65.5Lehigh              53.5Bowie State         31.5