College Track and Field
Relays Qualify for ECACs and IC4As
Women's 4x800 NEW Rider record

ARMORY, N.Y.--Both the Rider University men's and women's ran in relays Friday night at the New Balance Invitational at the Armory in New York.

"Our goal coming in was to get both of those qualifiers and hoping to set two new Rider Records," said head coach Bob Hamer.  "Getting three out of four is really, really good.  Even in the guys race, where there was some disappointing things, everything seems to be going in the right direction."

For the Bronc women, the 4x800 relay of senior Chelsea Callan (Hazlet/Raritan), junior Kristen Perrine (Brick/Brick Memorial), junior Laura Staples (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) and junior Heather Giovagnoli (Royersford, Pa./Spring Ford), finished with a time of 9:15.50.  The time is a new Rider record, breaking the old record by almost four seconds and an ECAC qualifying time.

"They ran a fantastic race," said Hamer.  "Chelsea started us off really well and got us going in the right direction.  Then Kristen got us right back up into the leaders.  Lauren did a great job of connecting it to the anchor leg and Heather ran a solid anchor leg to get us safely under the qualifier and to set a new Bronc Record."

For the Bronc men, the DMR finished with an IC4A qualifying time of 10:05.98 with sophomore Greg Wesh (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham), sophomore David Hightower (Easton, Pa./Easton), junior David South (Sergeantsville/Hunterdon Central) and senior Christian Gonzalez (Somerset/Franklin Twp.) competing.

"Chris ran a great anchor," Hamer said.  "It was great to see him get on a good foot.  We messed up two of the exchanges and that really killed our time.  I was disappointed in that, but our goal was qualifying for the IC4As coming in and we achieved that."

This makes it back to back years that a record in a women's distance relay has been broken at the New Balance Invitational. 

"I am really proud of the women," said Hamer.  "They have had the ability the last few years to have these kind of break through performances and hasn't really happened, so I am really happy for them.  Now they realize that their training is good and they have a lot of confidence in themselves and it is definitely transferring over into their competition."

Both teams will compete again Sunday, February 6, against The College of New Jersey.

"It is a really big race for us," Hamer said.  "It is going to be a tremendous atmosphere.  The two schools are very close to one another.  We recruit a lot of the same kids, everybody knows each other and each of us want to win.  It is going to be a good battle inside Lawrenceville's Field House."

-RU-