Chester, PA (May 3, 2008) – The DeSales University women's track & field team broke several individual and team records including scoring the most team points in school history with 103.33 to finish in fourth place at the MAC Outdoor Championships held at Widener University on Thursday thru Saturday.
The Bulldogs got things started in the 100-meter dash where junior Bridgette McGinnis (Pennsbury, PA/Pennsbury) had a breakout performance taking home first place in a time of 12.83 seconds. She broke the school-record in the prelims with a 12.81 time and her first place finish marked the first time DSU has ever won the 100-meters at the MAC Outdoor Championships. McGinnis did not stop there as she took home third place in the 200-meter dash in a time of 27.07 seconds.
In the 400-meter dash, sophomore Lauren Annucci (Aston, PA/Padua Academy) took home second place with a school-record time of 59.99 seconds, while freshman Kristy Ratcliffe (Langhorne, PA/Conwell Egan) and senior Courtney McClurkin (Collegeville, PA/Spring-Ford) joined Annucci among the top eight in fourth (1:00.88) and eighth (1:04.61) place.
The sprinting points did not end there however as the 4x100-meter relay team also took home first place (for the first time in Bulldog history at the MAC Championships) in a time of 50.69 seconds. Members of the team included Annucci, Ratcliffe, McGinnis and sophomore Shannon Webb (Bensalem, PA/Archbishop Ryan). Rounding out the top finishers in the running events was sophomore Beth Malseed (Claymont, DE/Archmere Academy) taking home seventh place in the 10,000-meters in a time of 44:08.64.
In the field events, freshman Emily Rau (Westmont, NJ/Haddon Township) and junior Brianna Valasek (Coopersburg, PA/Southern Lehigh) tied for fifth place in the high jump with a final jump of 4-07.75 feet. Sophomore Samantha Ward (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus) took home first place in the pole vault with a school-record and new MAC record vault of 10-11.50 feet and Webb was seventh in the pole vault with a jump of 8-11.75 feet.
Junior Crissy Meehan (Harleysville, PA/Gwynedd-Mercy) was sixth in the long jump (15-02.75 feet) and eighth in the triple jump (32-05.00 feet), while sophomore Meghan Weber (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks East) had an excellent meet taking first in the hammer throw with a school-record and new MAC record toss of 148-05.00 feet, fourth in the discus (104-02.00 feet) and fourth in the shot put (35-04.00 feet). Freshman Amber Fryer (Pottsville, PA/Pottsville) was sixth in the hammer throw (100-10.00 feet).
Rounding out the top finishers was Webb in eighth place in the javelin (104-08.00 feet) and first place in the heptathlon with a school-record total of 3,348 points. Sophomore Amanda Sell (Oley, PA/Oley Valley) was fifth in the heptathlon with a total of 2,902 points.
The Bulldogs will return to action on Monday, May 12th when a few Bulldogs will compete at the last chance meet at Swarthmore College before those athletes who qualified for ECAC's travel to the ECAC Championships on May 15th and 16th.
