Richmond Spiders Qualify 5 to NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship Final

Andrew Benford ran 8:39.71 in the 3K Steeple
to advance to the NCAA Championship Final
in Des Moines, IA.
(Mike Scott Photo)

Our Spiders finished the NCAA Track & Field Championships East Prelim Round in Bloomington, IN this past weekend.  We had a great meet with exceptional performances by several athletes.  In all 5 Spiders student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Finals to be held at Drake University and another set a school record in the women's 10K:

GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE FOR SEVERAL PHOTOS by MIKE SCOTT.

--Amy VanAlstine advanced to the NCAA Championship Final with her 2nd place finish in Heat #1 of the women's 5K (16:15.91)...This was one of the most exciting races of the meet.  It included Amy, Kendra Schaaf (UNC/Canada), 2010 NCAA XC Champion Sheila Reid (Villanova/Canada) and several All-Americans.  Amy took the lead in the race with less than 200M remaining, and then with 45M to go Schaaf made a late charge passing Van Alstine at the line to win by 0.54.VanAlstine (16:15.91)...Schaaf (16:15.37).  (MORE Photos of Amy at the bottom of this page)

Mike Scott photo

--Andrew Benford earned one of the automatic qualifying spots with his 2nd place finish in Heat #3 of the men's 3K Steeplechase.  Benford's time of 8:39.71 is a career best and also meets the USATF National Championships "A" Standard...Andrew returned in the 5K the night after the 3KSC to run 14:34.  His season best in the 5K is 13:55.88 at the Mt SAC Relays.

Dan Petty Photo

--Heather Roush earned one of the automatic qualifying spots in the Javelin with her 10th place finish.  Her throw of 46.74M came in the 1st round of finals and secured her spot at the NCAA Championship Final.  Roush recently won the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship title extending the streak to 8 years in a row a Spider athlete has won the Javelin. Her career best came in the first meet of the season, our own Fred Hardy Invitational where she threw 48.08M to establish a new school record.



Mike Scott Photo

--Nicol Traynor earned her ticket to the NCAA Championship Final in the 3K Steeplechase.  She is another of the Richmond crew earning an automatic spot into the NCAA Championship Final by placing 2nd in Heat #1 of the women's steeple.  The Junior from Ridge, NJ ran 10:11.26...On the last water jump Traynor was still in command and leading the race.  A late kick from Ecaterina Gheorghiu from NF passed her at the line.
Traynor also came back in the 5K (16:33.78) to finish 9th in Heat #2...Since this meet was considered the first round of the Championships Nicol was required to run the race...She finished a comfortable 9th (16:33.78) in her heat ensuring she would not qualify to finals. Her season best was 16:10.37 at Mt SAC.

Dan Petty Photo

--Matt Llano finished 8th in the 10K to secure a return trip to the NCAA Championships Final.  In Bloomington he ran 29:11.06 to finish 8th (2nd through 10th were separated by roughly 2 seconds)...with the top 12 qualifying for the finals in Des Moines... His season and career best in the10,000M is 28:43.30 from Stanford's Payton Jordan Inv. and 14:00.01 in the 5,000M at the 2011 Mt SAC Relays in Los Angeles.  Llano earned All-America honors in the 10K during the 2010 season with his 9th place finish at the championship in Eugene, OR.

Matt Llano’s 10K splits from Bloomington (29:11.06-8thPlace): 69.4/70.8/70.8/69.8=4:40.0 at 1600M/73.5/68.4/74.0/68.2=9:28.1 at 3200M/70.0/68.3/70.6/70.6=14:07.5 at 3 miles/14:43 at 5K/69.7/69.4/70.5/70.1=18:47.7 at 4 miles/69.3/70.0/70.3/70.3=23:27.9 at 5 miles/70.3/69.7/69.1/68.6=28:05.7 at 6 miles/65.2=29:11.06 for 8th place

UR Newsroom Article on Matt Llano

----Not qualifying for NCAA Championships Finals are...

Dan Petty Photo

--- Julie Rechel set a 10K school record of 34:50.43 and a career best in the 5K of 17:07 en route to the finish...Before this race her best was 35:14.82 in the 10,000M which she ran at the 2011 Penn Relays a few days after placing 2nd in the 2011 USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship (LINK).

Julie Rechel’s 10K Splits in Bloomington: 79.1/81.6/81.1/80.4=5:22.2 at 1600M/81.8/82.2/81.9/82.2=10:50.1 at 3200M/82.5/83.8/83.5/82.8=16:26 at 3 miles and 17:07.3 at 5K /82.8/83.0/82.6/84.4= (5:32.8) 21:58.8 at 4 miles/82.9/84.7/87.4/88.1= (5:43.1) 27:41.1 at 5 miles/87.4/87.6/87.5/86.8= (5:49.3) 33:30.0 at 6 miles/80.3=34:50.43 10K Finish for school record

Dan Petty Photo

----Meaghan McGovern finished 24th in the Hammer Throw with a mark of 54.48M...McGovern's mark of 55.85M at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships is a career best for the Spider Junior. She also won the College Division of the Hammer at the 2011 Penn Relays.

Mike Scott photo

----Jenn Ennis, who took a fall on the first lap of the 3KSC finished 13th in Heat #3 with a time of 10:41.24...Her season and career best of 10:30.27 came at the UNC Invitational where she won the event by nearly  seconds.

Mike Scott photo

---Freshman, Jill Prentice placed 19th in Heat #1 of the 5K with a time of 17:01.30...Her season and career bests came from the Mt SAC Relays where she ran 16:39.79 in the 5K and 4:32 in the 1500M at the NC A&T Invite.

Dan Petty Photo

---Monica Howard threw 41.41M in the Discus which was well off her winning throw of 49.86M at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships which broke her own school record.

A Few Article Links From Our

Sports Information Offices

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Van Alstine Becomes Fifth Spider To Reach NCAA National Championship

The senior turned in a classic 5,000m at the NCAA East Preliminary Round.

May 29, 2011

by Mike DeGeorge
UR SID

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Senior Amy Van Alstine capped one of the most successful weekends in the history of the Richmond Track & Field program as she became the fifth Spider to clinch a spot in the NCAA National Championship with her thrilling 5,000m run Saturday night at the NCAA East Preliminary Round in Bloomington, Ind.

Van Alstine joins senior Matt Llano (10,000m), senior Andrew Benford (3,000m steeplechase), senior Nicol Traynor (3,000m steeplechase) and senior Heather Roush (javelin) who are each headed to the NCAA National Championship at Drake University that begins June 8.

READ MORE HERE

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Three More Spiders Move On To NCAA National Championship

Andrew Benford and Nicol Traynor advanced in the steeple and Heather Roush in the javelin

May 28, 2011 by Mike DeGeorge
UR SID

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Three more Richmond Track & Field athletes clinched spots in the NCAA National Championship meet as action continued Friday at the NCAA East Preliminary Round at Indiana University.

Andrew Benford and Nicol Traynor advanced in the steeplechase and Heather Roush in the javelin.

READ MORE HERE

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Matt Llano Secures NCAA National Championship Spot In 10,000m

Senior Julie Rechel broke the school record in the 10,000m.

May 27, 2011

By Mike DeGeorge
UR SID
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Senior Matt Llano finished eighth overall in the 10,000m Thursday night as action at the NCAA Track & Field East Preliminary began at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. The top 12 finishers advance to the NCAA National Championship.
Llano, who is a reigning 2010 NCAA All-America after a ninth-place finish at the NCAA National Championship, was eighth overall in a time of 29:11.06 to earn a return trip to the National Championship meet.

READ MORE HERE

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A FEW PHOTOs FROM MIKE SCOTT:

 

ANDREW BENFORD

Andrew Benford in the 3KSC...
Lap #1 was spent getting into position.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

 

By the 4th lap the front runners started to pull away.
Andrew moved into 2nd. (Photo by Mike Scott)

Off the last water barrier Benford simply needed to finish
to earn a spot at the NCAA Championship Final to be held at Drake University.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

Andrew Benford in the 5K.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

NICOL TRAYNOR

Nicol Traynor took the lead of the 1st heat
of the women's 3K Steeple from the start.
She finished in 10:10.26.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

Traynor extended her lead throughout
the first 6 laps of the 7 lap race. 
At one point she held a 40M lead on the field.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

The next to last water jump as Traynor
continued to lead...(Photo by Mike Scott)

On the last water jump Traynor was still in command
before a late kick from Ecaterina Gheorghiu from NF 
passed her at the line.
She finished in 10:10.26.  
(Photo by Mike Scott)

Traynor also ran the 5K as a backup to the 3KSC.
She finished a comfortable 9th (16:33.78) in her heat
ensuring she would not qualify to finals.
Her season best was 16:10.37 at Mt SAC. 
(Photo by Mike Scott)

AMY VAN ALSTINE

What a 5K race... 
On the 3rd lap Amy VanAlstine in 3rd behind Reid
It included Kendra Schaaf (UNC-Canada),
NCAA XC Champ Sheila Reid (Villanova-Canada)
and several All-Americans.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

By 2K the field was starting to separate
and Alex Banfich (Princeton) 
joined the leaders.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

3K and Van Alstine continued to hang tough. (Photo by Mike Scott)

With 200M to go Van Alstine began to move. (Photo by Mike Scott)

Shortly after this photo was taken Van Alstine took the lead
with just under 200M remaining in the race. 
With 45M to go Schaaf made a charge
passing Van Alstine at the line to win by 0.54.
VanAlstine (16:15.91)...Schaaf (16:15.37)
(Photo by Mike Scott)

JENN ENNIS


Jenn Ennis ran 10:30.27 at UNC but a fall on the first lap
of the NCAA Championships East Prelim dashed her hopes
of advancing to the NCAA Finals to be hosted by Drake University.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

Jenn Ennis ran 10:41.24 after her fall.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

Jenn Ennis closed her career for the Spiders.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

JILL PRENTICE

Freshman, Jill Prentice ran 17:01.30 to finish 15th
in heat 1 of the 5K.
Her season best came from the Mt SAC Relays
where she ran 16:39.79 in the 5K and
4:32 in the 1500M at the NC A&T Invite.
(Photo by Mike Scott)

Freshman, Jill Prentice in the 5K
at NCAA Championships East Prelim. 
(Photo by Mike Scott)

These photos are not from Mike Scott...as you can tell :)

MONICA HOWARD

Monica Howard finished her Spiders career in the Discus Throw.
Howard won the event at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships
with a career best and school record throw of 49.86M.

Most of the Spiders Crew...

(L-R) Jill Prentice (5K), Jenn Ennis (3KSC),
Heather Roush (Javelin-NCAA Final Qualifier),
Matt Llano (10K NCAA Final Qualifier),
Meaghan McGovern (Hammer),
Andrew Benford (3KSC NCAA Final Qualifier),
Nicol Traynor (3KSC NCAA Final Qualifier) and

Amy Van Alstine (5K NCAA Final Qualifier).
Not shown Julie Rechel (34:50.43-10K) and
Monica Howard (Discus) 

(L-R) Coach Lawson, me, Jenn Ennis (3KSC),
Jill Prentice (5K), Matt Llano (10K NCAA Final Qualifier),
Amy Van Alstine (5K NCAA Final Qualifier),
Nicol Traynor (3KSC NCAA Final Qualifier),
Andrew Benford (3KSC NCAA Final Qualifier)
and Coach Lori Taylor

Andrew Benford preparing for the battle that is calling him
...and waiting for him on the track.

Andrew Benford moments after running 8:39.71 in the 3K Steeple.

Seriously, should these really cost the same amount????...