March 24, 2007

Complete Results

WASHINGTON - Taking advantage of cool and calm conditions, numerous members of the American University men's and women's track teams set personal bests, highlighting a fantastic second meet of the outdoor season at the Navy Invitational Saturday.

The men's team performance was highlighted by the regional-qualifying performances of Dustin Emrani, Brendan Fennell and Carlos Jamieson. Emrani, the 2007 Patriot League Indoor 800m champion, led from start to finish in the men's 800, splitting 52 and change at 400m en route to a 1:49.70 performance. The time was just a few hundredths of a second off his personal best and school record and was his second time dipping below 1:50 in his career. Making his debut at the distance, Awit Yohannes ran a strong 1:54.20 - good for third and tenth all-time at AU.

"Dustin was going to give a regional standard effort no matter the weather," coach Matt Centrowitz said "even if he had to run 1:55 in a windstorm. He took the lead from the gun and led the whole way. He looked very strong the last 100 meters." As for long distance specialist Yohannes who ran a huge best in the 800, Centrowitz said, "It was something fun for him to do out of the ordinary. He ran well and surprised himself."

In the 1500, Fennell and Jamieson used team tactics to pull each other along to regional qualifiers and personal bests. Fennell led most of the race until Jamieson passed him on the final turn. Fennell fought back in the homestretch, however, and held on for the win in 3:45.80 with his teammate a step back in 3:46.10. The times are the third and fourth-fastest times, respectively, in school history. Grad student Conor Lanz took third in the race in a season-best 3:51.80 as well.

In the men's 400, senior Alex Caudana and freshman Dan King ran the seventh and ninth-fastest times in school history in the men's 400, respectively. Caudana placed third with a 50.20 with King in fourth in 50.70. "Dan had a huge improvement, by Penn Relays that could easily be a 48 low relay," Centrowitz noted. "That was also the fastest Alex has run. All these races set us up for the relays in the next weeks."

The women's team had several breakout performances in the middle-distances, led by Cathleen Ford's second-place in the 1500. Ford set a personal best by more than eight seconds, running 4:45.03 in second, which led freshman Greta Wicklund (fifth, 4:48.90) and Kate Lilley (sixth, 4:49.53) to new bests as well. Ford's time is the sixth-fastest in school history with Wicklund and Lilley's times seventh and eighth all-time.

"Those three ran really well. It was a little overcrowded with so many girls in the race. The experience they gained will be invaluable to their development."

Freshman Mercedes Ball also etched her name in the school's top-ten, running 2:22.63 in the 800 for sixth-place. That mark is the ninth-best in AU women's outdoor track history. Senior Ashley Dellinger was only a tick back in seventh, running 2:23.78.

American's lone field competitor, Christina Wright, also had a great meet, placing fifth in the discus with a personal best throw of 31.21m or 102 feet and five inches. The throw eclipsed her best and is the second-longest throw in school history, just over two feet behind the school record.

"We had some great conditions and everyone ran really well," Centrowitz noted. "It's a good beginning to the outdoor campaign. Everyone's excited and positive and hopefully we'll get some good weather at Maryland next week and keep it going."

The Eagles return to the track next weekend at the University of Maryland Invitational Saturday.