March 14, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Senior Frances Koons and sophomores Amanda Marino and Sheila Reid made it a banner day for the Wildcats on the first day of competition, Friday at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in College Station, Texas.
Koons was impressive in finishing 2nd in the 5000m. She ran a patient race and slowly worked her way through the pack before unleashing a scintillating kick, running the last 200m in 32.15 to finish in a personal best of 15:58.92. In doing so, Koons earned her 5th All-American honor of her career. Koons will be back on the track tomorrow night competing in the final of the 3000m run.
Not far behind Koons in 10th place was Marino finishing in 16:04.77 a personal best by 14 seconds. Marino's performance was especially impressive considering she was only added to the meet late Wednesday evening after a fellow competitor was scratched from the field. In doing so, Marino earned the 2nd All-American honor of her young career.
Reid got the day off on a good note when she qualified for the final in the mile run. Like Marino, it was Reid's first trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships and she handled it like a veteran in qualifying for the final.
"What a phenomenal day for our program," said head coach, Gina Procaccio, " The girls ran with heart and guts, like true Villanovans." "I had tears in my eyes watching Frances run the race of her career. She has been through so much the last couple of years and is as phenomenal a person as she is an athlete. Amanda is just amazing. The way she competed here tonight makes me very excited for her future."
On the men's side, senior Sean Tully fuinished 10th in the prelims of the 800m. He ran 1:50.02.
The men's distance medley relay had a fumble on an exchange that they could not recover from. The quartet of freshman Chris Williams, senior Elvis Lewis, and sophomores Jason Apwah and Matthew Gibney ran 9:50.49 to finish 16th.
The Wildcats are back in action tomorrow night with Reid competing in the mile at 5:00pm and Koons competing in the 3000m at 6:40pm CT.
