Feb. 3, 2008

PITTSBURGH -

The Pitt track and field teams continued their indoor seasons by sending competitors to two meets this weekend, the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup in State College, Pa., and the Kentucky Rod McCravy Memorial in Lexington, Ky. Both squads continued to show signs of improvement, evidenced by some stellar marks on the track and in the field.

In Lexington, All-American Mike Wray (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) clocked in at 7.98 in the prelims of the men's 60-meter hurdles, just .07 off a NCAA provisional time. He went on to take fifth in the finals. Wray's counterpart on the women's side, Mycaiah Clemons (New Kensington, Pa./Valley), turned in a season-best 8.56 in the finals to grab an eighth-place finish.

At the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup, freshman Da'Lynn Mills (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) raced to an ECAC qualifying time of 24.80 to take fourth in the women's 200 meter finals. Mills' classmate Aaron Taylor (Washington, D.C./Gonzaga College HS) took part in the men's 800 meters and claimed sixth with a Big East and IC4A championship time of 1:53.50.

In addition to those performances on the track, the Pitt athletes also enjoyed a great deal of success in the field this weekend. Eric Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa./Gateway) posted two strong marks in the men's triple and long jump events, placing third and 10^th, respectively, in the finals. His distance of 14.77 meters in the triple jump was a season best.

Kristin Johnson (Somerset, Pa./Somerset) cleared a height of 1.66 meters in the finals of the women's high jump en route to a third-place finish, while Martina Hallman (Miami, Fla./Miami Southridge) launched herself a season-best 11.75 meters and took sixth-place in the triple jump. Hallman's distance also qualified her for the ECAC meet later in the year.

The Pitt trio of Erinn McMahon (Southampton, Pa./Saint Basil Academy), Kari Weimerskirch (Tiffin, Ohio/Mohawk) and Mills competed in the pentathlon and put up top-five finishes. McMahon took second and was immediately followed by Weimerskirch, while Mills claimed fifth.

The throwing tandem of A.J. Kielinski (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Kennedy-Kenrick Catholic) and Garrett Larkin (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) took 10^th and 11^th places in the men's weight throw and shot put events, respectively. Kielinski posted an IC4A distance of 17.74 meters, while Larkin upped his career-best in the finals.