Golden Eagles Conclude Competition Prior To NCAA Mideast Regional

May 16, 2009

MILWAUKEE-- The Marquette University track and field squad concluded its final weekend of competition before the NCAA Mideast Regional at various meets around the nation.

"We had strong performances across the board," head coach Bert Rogers said of the competition at the Gregory Invitational, hosted by North Central College. "It was nice to see Nick (Szczech) and Carly (Windt) finish their season with strong runs and personal best times. I was also happy to see Scott (Mueller) finish his Marquette career with a victory. What can you say about Jessi Ehlen, she is getting stronger and stronger. She has great momentum heading into regionals."

At the Gregory Invitational Thursday afternoon, senior Jessica Ehlen improved her personal best and regional-qualifying distance in the hammer throw with a mark of 57.31 meters (188 feet) to move closer to the No.1 spot on the all-time MU list.

In the 5,000-meter run, senior Scott Mueller won the event in a time of 14:18.21 and was six seconds from qualifying for the NCAA Regional. Nick Szczech finished sixth in the event in 14:40.47 to set a personal best and moved him to ninth on the MU all-time list. Also competing was freshman Carly Windt in the women's 5,000 meters, who record a personal best time of 18:37.64, beating her previous best by 12 seconds.

On Friday evening at the Cardinal Twilight in Louisville, Ky., Rachel Thiel, a regional qualifier a year ago in the shot put, placed seventh in the event with a toss of 13.55 meters (44 feet, 5.50 inches). In the discus, junior Audra Ketelsen finished fourth in the discus with a distance of 44.27 meters (145-03).

Kelley Corcoran and Jamie Roth finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in the hammer throw. Corcoran reached a distance of 50.02 meters (164-01), while Roth reached 46.68 meters (153-02).

In the javelin, Kelly Magennis placed second with a heave of 42.20 meters (138-01), while freshman Lauren Benjamin reached a distance of 40.71 meters (133-07) to record a personal best in the event and qualify for the United States Junior National meet.

"Lauren continues to improve and impress," Rogers said. "She is such a novice to the event. I am excited to see what types of gains she can make between now and Junior Nationals".

Friday night at the Georgia Tech Invitational, Peter Bolgert, competing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase recorded a fourth-place finish in 9:17.23, while freshman Blake Johnson finished sixth in 9:21.47.

At Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon, sophomore sprinter Tyler O'Brien recorded a time of 21.49, to come up just shy of the NCAA Regional qualifying standard of 21.35 seconds.

Ehlen along with juniors Jayne Grebinkski in the steeplechase and Erynn James in the high jump will return to action May 29 in Louisville, Ky., at the NCAA Mideast Regional.