April 29, 2005

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Sophomore thrower Robert McDade (Broomall, Pa.) shattered the school record in the discus throw at the Penn Relays, as his mark of 57.15 meters was more than four meters longer than the previous record of 52.71m, set by Steve Bienko on May 23, 1998. Mc Dade took first out of 30 competitors in the College Men's Discus Throw.

"I am thrilled for Robert," head coach Marcus O'Sullivan said. "He is a local guy who is always out there doing his thing. We know how hard he works every day and this is big for him."

McDade will compete in the discus at next month's NCAA East Regional. He had originally qualified for the regional at the Penn Invitational earlier this season with a mark of 51.32m, and he has met the NCAA standard three more times since then. His mark on Friday at the Penn Relays is the third longest in the Big East this season. Sam Segond of Rutgers had a mark of 58.58m at the Triton Invitational on April 23, and then had a mark of 60.87m in the Championship section of the discus at the Penn Relays.

The men's team also competed in the distance medley relay on Friday, and finished fifth out of 16 teams with a time of 9:34.98. Michigan won the race with a time of 9:22.57, boasting a six-second margin of victory. The next four teams were all within six seconds of each other, as the Wildcats came in just behind Arkansas (9:28.79), Cornell (9:33.32) and Georgetown (9:34.92). Michigan's winning time was the eighth-fastest time in the DMR in the 110-year history of the Penn Relays.

"We knew the DMR race was going to be extremely competitive," O'Sullivan said. "I thought we could have been a little more competitive than we were, but unfortunately we wound up playing catch-up after the first leg."

Sophomore Kippy Keino (Eldoret, Kenya) opened the relay in the 1200 meter leg with a time of 2:59.8, and classmate Drew Eckman (Oxford, Pa.) followed with a split of 47.1 in the 400 meters. Sophomore Mark Korich (Wyndmoor, Pa.) ran a split of 1:50.8 in the 800 meters, and senior Ryan Hayden (Richmond, Canada) anchored the relay with a time of 3:57.3 in the 1600 meters. Hayden's performance helped Villanova make up ground in the race, as the Wildcats were in 12th place when he got the baton.

Villanova also raced in the preliminary heats of the men's 4x400 meter relay. The Wildcats time of 3:15.19 was the second fastest in their heat. The finals of the 4x400 meter relay are on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

Among the highlights on the women's side was Villanova's second place finish in the 4x1500 meter relay. The Wildcats time of 17:42.13 trailed only Stanford, which won the race with a time of 17:38.16. Senior Ioana Parusheva (Sliven, Bulgaria) and junior Marina Muncan (Pancevo, Yugoslavia) had the Wildcats in contention for a title with strong splits in the second and third legs of the race, but in the end Villanova came in four seconds behind the talented Stanford quartet.

Sophomore Akilah Vargas (Brooklyn, N.Y.) ran first for the Wildcats, and handed the baton off to Parusheva with Villanova 12 seconds off the pace. Parusheva, whose split was 4:17.6, nearly closed the gap in her 1500 meters, and gave the baton to Muncan with Villanova just one second behind Stanford. Muncan then proceeded to run a 4:17.2 split and gave the baton to senior anchor Colleen Taylor (Wilmington, Del.) with the Wildcats leading Stanford by 15 meters. Taylor had a strong split of 4:27.5, but Stanford turned in a time of 4:19.2 in the final leg to take the title.

After the first leg, the race turned into a two-team battle between Stanford and Villanova, as no other team came closer than 28 seconds to the winning time. Duke finished third with a time of 18:06.78, while Virginia was fourth (18:16.63) and Penn State fifth (18:21.78).

In other events on the women's side, sophomore Monique Morgan (Kingston, Jamaica) and senior Sherian Byam (Brooklyn, N.Y.) competed in the preliminary heats of the 100 meter hurdles. Both raced in the second heat, where Morgan finished second with a time of 13.63 and Byam placed fifth with a time of 14.00. The finals of the 100 meter hurdles will be held on Saturday at 3:25 p.m.

Sophomore Nia Cooper (Newburgh, N.Y.) competed in the triple jump and was 21st out of 30 competitors with a mark of 11.01 meters.