The Bedford, Indiana Tornado while at the NCAA East Championships

 Roughly 5 miles from our hotel this photo was taken of a tornado forming East of Bedford, Indiana.
(Photo by Stacey Cummings)

On Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 our University of Richmond team was in Bloomington, IN for the NCAA Track & Field Championship East Preliminary Round.  After a short workout at the Indiana University facility our staff and athletes headed back to Bedford, IN where we were staying. When Lori and team members entered a Starbucks they wondered where everyone, including the workers were.  They found them seeking shelter in the back of the store, so they joined them when they were told the emergency system warned of imminent danger due to tornado's in the area.

Here are a few photos of the actual Bedford Tornado taken by Stacey Cummings and a few I took the day following of its destruction East of Bedford.  The National Weather Service classified this as an EF-2 with winds between 111-135 miles per hour:

The National Weather Service confirmed that a high-end EF-2 tornado with winds between 111-135 miles per hour struck Bedford, Indiana.
(Photo by Stacey Cummings)



The Bedford Tornado touching down.  It left a 8 mile long path in its wake.
(Photo by Stacey Cummings)



After speaking with a couple members of the community who told us where the tornado hit, several of our team members drove through the area of destruction.  If this was an EF-2 I personally can't imagine what the larger tornado's could do..

The damage was complete destruction...Thankfully no one was seriously hurt.

Everything in the tornado's path was destroyed.

This pick-up truck was tossed around and moved over 100 yards from where it was parked before the tornado hit.

The day after the tornado, family members started the pain staking task of trying to cleanup and salvage as much as they could. 

The pick up truck was a complete loss as were several homes.

This home saved several members of one family.  Even though the entire house was moved from it's foundation it's basement served as a refuge to the family and several neighbors who watched the tornado approach before escaping it in the basement.

Friends and neighbors showed up to help with the cleanup.

The southern most wall of this home took most of the damage.  Again, thankfully no one was seriously hurt in the tornado.

The day after...

Again, the destruction was terrible...Notice the windows of this car were completely broken.

The Bedford Tornado snapped trees in its path...

The tornado left a path roughly 200M wide and 8 miles long.

Trees were snapped off and uprooted...

Power lines were down...

In the foreground you can see the roof from a house 1/4 mile away...and in the background you can see that trees were knocked down as the tornado left the area.

This tree was broken off narrowly missing the home.

The owner of the building next to the pickup truck was in his field retrieving 2x4's ripped from his building.

Fishing Between Hard Workouts

(UPDATE:  Since this was originally posted, Andrew Benford placed 2nd in Heat #3 of the NCAA Championship East Preliminary Round in the Men's 3K Steeplechase with a USATF Qualifying A Standard of 8:39.71)

Andrew Benford recently won the Penn Relays Championship 3K Steeplechase, set PR's of 8:46 in the 3KSC and 13:55 in the 5K so far this season. He will run the 3KSC/5K double at this weekends NCAA Championships East Preliminary Round.  He took a few minutes between hard workouts to catch a few fish.  Here he holds a 12 pound Blue Catfish caught on ultralight tackle..



Assistant Coach Jon Molz stares down the snapping turtle he caught and released.  We named him "Bitey".
Coach Molz (UR T&F Alum '08) recently finished 13th out of +40,000 runners 
in the 2011 Monument Ave 10K in April.



Temple University Professor, Brendan Regan (UR T&F Alum '08) came to Richmond to visit and could not resist catching a few fish with us.



Benford with a largemouth bass... We named this fish "bait".



When the sun finally set, we started to catch the cats.

Benford with an 8 lber.

Of course we were using ultralight tackle...The only way to cat fish for a challenge.



...and a 10 lb bluecat...





Yes, catch-and-release...

 

Fishing=Recovery from hard training...
Always remember your roots.

Spiders Head to NCAA Championships East Preliminary Round

(R-L)-Spiders Amy Van Alstine (5K-16:09.22),
Jill Prentice (5K-16:39.79) 
and Nicol Traynor (3KSC-10:11.20 and 5K-16:10.37)
lead a strong Richmond distance crew into
the NCAA Championships East Preliminary Round.

  The Spiders start competition tomorrow...

....with 10 Athletes in 12 Events.

---Follow our journey through Twitter HERE
---Link to LIVE RESULTS HERE.
---Link to LIVE VIDEO HERE.
---Link to TIME SCHEDULE HERE.

• Andrew Benford will run the 3K Steeplechase and the 5000M
at the NCAA Championships East Prelim Round. 
Benford has career bests of 
8:46.12 (3KSC-2011 A-10 Conference Championships) and
13:55.88 (5000M-2011 Mt SAC Relays) this season.   

  

Benford won the 3K Steeplechase Championship
at the prestigious Penn Relays last month (LINK).



• Jenn Ennis will race the 3,000M Steeplechase...
Ennis ran 10:30.27 in the 3,000m steeplechase
to win the UNC Invitational 2 weeks ago in a career best.

• Monica Howard will compete in the Discus Throw.
Her winning throw of 49.86M in the Discus at the
Atlantic 10 Conference broke her own school record.

• Matt Llano qualified in the 10,000M and the 5,000M.
Llano ran the 10,000M in 28:43.30 at
Stanford's Payton Jordan Inv. and
14:00.01 in the 5,000M at the 2011 Mt SAC Relays in Los Angeles.
However, he will focus on the 10K...opting out of the 5K.
Llano is a 2010 NCAA All-American in the 10K
placing 9th in the NCAA final last year.

• Meaghan McGovern will compete in the Hammer Throw.
McGovern's mark (55.85M) at the
Atlantic 10 Conference Championships
is a career best for the Spider junior. 
McGovern won the College Division of the Hammer
at the 2011 Penn Relays.

• Jill Prentice will race the 5,000M.
Prentice ran 16:39.79 in the 5,000M this season
at the Mt SAC Relays in Los Angeles.
The Spider freshman from NJ also ran 4:32 in the 1500M
two weeks ago, both her 5K and 1500M marks are career bests.

• Julie Rechel will compete in the 10,000M.
Rechel ran 35:14.82 in the 10,000M at the 2011 Penn Relays
a few days after placing 2nd in the
2011 USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship (LINK).

• Heather Roush will compete in the Javelin Throw.
Roush recently won the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship
title making 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.



• Nicol Traynor will also double in the 3,000M steeplechase
and the 5,000M (16:10.37).
She ran a career best in the 3Ksteeplechase (10:11.20)
at the A-10 Championships...
At the time her 3KSC mark ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA... 
It also qualifies her for the USATF Championships
and the 2012 US Olympic Team Trials.



Nicol Traynor ran 16:10.37 in the 5,000M at the
2011 Mt SAC Relays setting her career best.

• Amy Van Alstine qualified in the 5,000m (16:09.22)
and the 1,500m (4:19.38)...
however, she will focus on the 5K...
opting out of the 1500M..
Van Alstine ran the 5,000M in 16:09.22 at the 2011 Mt SAC Relays
in Los Angeles after leading nearly the entire race.
Her 1500M time of 4:19.38 set a school record,
A-10 Meet record and UNCC Facility Record.
She was also named the
2011 Atlantic 10 Conference Track Athlete of the Year
for her effort in winning the 1500M
and 5K races in the league championships.

ON THE BUBBLE....

Tremayne Graham ran 10.62 in the 100M dash
to narrowly miss qualifying
for the NCAA Championships East Preliminary Round. 
This year 10.50 in the 100M dash qualified. 
Graham is also a standout football player for the Spiders.



Tim Quinn capped a stellar career for the Spiders
by running 14:08.96 in the 5,000M
at Princeton's Larry Ellis Invitational. 
His time qualified him for the NCAA Championship East Prelims,
unfortunately in a freak occurrence he suffered
a broken 3rd metatarsal bone in his foot
while running the 10K at the A-10 Championships ending his season.



Chris York narrowly missed qualifying in the 10,000M
by a mere 1.28 seconds.
The Spider sophomore ran 30:11.99 in the 10,000M
at the 2011 Mt SAC Relays.

******************************************************

Track & Field Sending 10 Athletes In 12 Events To NCAA Preliminary Round

The East Region Preliminary Round is May 26-28 at Indiana University.

May 19, 2011


UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND - The NCAA announced the participants in the 2011 Division I Outdoor Track and Field Preliminary Championship Competition, which is set to welcome 10 University of Richmond Spiders in 12 events.

READ MORE HERE

Freshman Jill Prentice is looking to the NCAA Championship
East Prelims with optimism. 

Richmond Travels to Last Chance Meets at UNC, NC A&T and Swarthmore

Jenn Ennis took command to win the 3K Steeple at UNC 
with a time of 10:30.27 moving her way up
in the NCAA Region Ranks.

Spider Highlights from the weekend...

Jenn Ennis
in the 3K Steeple at the
Atlantic 10 Conference Championships
the week before winning at UNC (Prentice Photo)

---Jenn Ennis ran a career best of 10:30.27 in the 3K Steeplechase at UNC...Ennis's Splits: 81.8/83.4/82.1/87.1/87.1/83.9/2:05.9=10:30.27

Freshman Ryan Lee,
leads sophomore Chris York in the 3K
at the 2011 Fred Hardy Inv. 
Lee ran 3:54.44 in the 1500M at Swarthmore.
Earlier this season he ran 14:34 in the 5K
and placed 4th in the A-10 Championships last weekend. 
York ran 30:11.99 in he 10K at Mt SAC Relays. 

---Ryan Lee ran a career best (3:54.44) in the 1500M at the Swarthmore Twilight Meet in Philadelphia...Lee's Splits: 300M (47.1)/400M (63.9)/ 800M (2:07.3)/1000M (2:38.4)/1200M (3:08.5)/46.2 for his final 300M=3:54.44 is a 4 second PR.

Freshman Alli Mannon,
shown here at the Atlantic 10 Championships,
ran the 1500M at NC A&T Last Chance Meet.
Her time of 4:34.05 was a PR
even with a 59 final 300M (Prentice Photo).

---Alli Mannon ran a career best in the 1500M of 4:34.05 at the NC A&T Invitational...Mannon's Splits: 400M (71.1)/800M (2:23.6)/1200M (3:35.3)/ 4:34.05 a 4 second PR (she split 4:35 at Penn relays in the 4x1500M helping the Spiders to 5th place in the Championship of America race.).

Freshman Jill Prentice,
shown here in the A-10 Championships 5K,
closed in the final 300M
to run 4:32.06 in the 1500M at NC A&T.
She ran 16:39.79 in the 5K this season. (Prentice Photo)

---Jill Prentice ran a career best in the 1500M of 4:32.06 at the NC A&T Invitational...Prentice's Splits: 400M (71.7)/800M (2:25.2)/1200M (3:38.1)/1500M=4:32.06 a 9 second PR.

Tremahn Graham, 
shown here in the 4x100M Relay at the A-10 Championships,
ran 10.75 in the 100M at NC A&T. 
Graham is a standout on our football team
and ran 10.62 earlier this season. (Dan Petty photo)

 
Also at the NC A&T Aggie Classic, junior Meaghan McGovern finished second in the hammer throw (50.54m), senior Heather Roush came in third-place in the discus throw (41.73m), senior X'auntasia Johnson placed sixth in the triple jump (11.78m), and Tremahn Graham came in 20th in the 100m dash (10.75). 

Meaghan has already qualified for the 1st round of the the NCAA Championships in the Hammer Throw, while Heather has qualified in the javelin.

******************************************************
Ennis Qualifies For NCAA East Regionals In Steeple At Carolina Invitational

The NCAA East Regional Championship will be held in Bloomington, Ind. on May 26.

by Mike DeGeorge
UR SID
 
May 16, 2011
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND - Redshirt-senior Jenn Ennis secured her place in the NCAA East Regional competition on Saturday, following her first-place finish in the 3,000m steeplechase at the Kent Taylor Carolina Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C.
"Jenn ran great," said women's head coach Lori Taylor. "She was mentally and physically tough out there, and when she needed to pick up the pace she did. That's a nine second improvement from earlier this year and firmly put her into the NCAA Region Championships."

Ennis' time of 10:30.27 not only is a career-best, but she also moves to 27th in the NCAA East Region rankings, securing a place in the regional competition on May 26.

READ MORE HERE...