In its first road action of the 2010 outdoor track and field season, Emory University turned in four NCAA provisional qualifying marks while competing at the Duke Invitational and the Gem of the Hills Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

Emory’s distance runners turned in a number of very strong performances, while facing mostly Division I competition at the Duke University Invitational.  The men were paced by senior Paul Winterhalter, who set a new school record in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 31:06.26.  The time bested former Eagle Phil Hagedorn’s mark set in 2004, and was good for an NCAA provisional qualifying time.  His mark was good for a third-place finish in the event.

Senior Greg Decker recorded a provisional time as well, recording a mark of 14:38.71 in the 5,000-meter run for an eighth-place finish.  The time was the second-fastest finish in school history, and the fastest since Tony Lewis’ record setting time of 14:35.24 in 1986.  Seniors Tommy Fyffe and Charles Meade also narrowly missed the qualifying time of 14:48 in the event, finishing with marks of 14:48.19 and 14:49.51, respectively.

Other top finishers for the Emory men at the Duke Invitational were Stephen Ellwood in the 1,500-meter run (26^th, 3:59.63), and Jason Campbell in the 800-meter run (12^th, 1:56.83).

For the Emory women at Duke, Natalie Fenn claimed a second-place finish in the ‘B’ heat of the 5,000-meter run (18:28.27), Melanie Frank finished third in the developmental heat of the 800-meter run (2:20.04) and Sara Gelb claimed 28^th in the 1,500-meter run (4:49.04).

At the Gem of the Hills Invitational, in Jacksonville, AL, Alex Greenhouse won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.47 seconds, his third NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the event in as many meets this season.  Greenhouse also finished sixth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.14 seconds.

Junior Everett Bryant finished second in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.57 seconds.  Senior Tyler Faits would turn in top-10 performances in both the 200-meter dash (finishing fifth with a time of 22.14 seconds) and the 400-meter dash (sixth with a mark of 50.05 seconds), while senior Alex Robin earned a fourth-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:54.78.  Other top finishers in track events during the meet for the Emory men were Michael Spewak in the 1,500-meter run (6^th, 4:15.97), Jonathan Usry in the 5,000-meter run (8^th, 16:27.12), and the Eagles’ 4x100-meter relay team of Isaac Chambers, Greenhouse, Bryant and Faits, which finished fifth in a time of 43.64.

Freshman Anthony Lombardo cleared a season-best height of 4.55 meters in the pole vault, the best by a UAA competitor this season, and just .15 meters short of a provisional mark.  The height was also the best by an Emory competitor since 1985, and just .02 meters shy of the school record. 

Sophomore Ben Euwer was Emory’s top performer in three of the throw events, finishing third in both the shot put with a throw of 13.41 meters and the hammer throw with a distance of 43.12 meters, and fourth in the discus throw with a toss of 38.18 meters. Other top finishers in field events for Emory were Faits in the long jump (7^th, 6.23 meters), Taylor Warren in the triple jump (13^th, 11.88 meters), and Don Wang in the javelin throw (3^rd, 51.66 meters).

For Emory’s women at the meet, sophomore Lauren Attiah recorded an NCAA provisional qualifying distance of 11.62 meters in the triple jump, the third-longest in school history.  Freshman Theresa Ford was just .05 meters shy of a qualifying mark in the high jump, finishing ninth with a height of 1.60 meters.  Ford was also Emory’s top finisher in the long jump (15^th, 5.03 meters), discus throw (7^th, 36.20 meters) and javelin throw (11^th, 31.13 meters).

Senior Kara Cutrona also recorded two of Emory’s top finishes in field events, coming in seventh in the shot put with a throw of 10.65 meters, and 10^th in the hammer throw with a toss of 27.96 meters.

On the track, Emory’s 4x100-meter relay team of Jasmine McCullough, Alix Dyer, Hadiza Sa-Aadu and Mary Crystal Spence finished fourth with a time of 48.69 seconds, just four hundredths of a second short of the NCAA provisional qualifying time.  Spence would also be Emory’s top finisher in both the 100-meter dash (9^th, 12.77 seconds) and the 200-meter dash (11^th, 26.24 seconds). 

Other top finishers in the track events for the Emory women included Alycia Adams in the 400-meter dash (14^th, 1:03.42), Cassandra Gonzalez in the 5,000-meter run (11^th, 20:31.13), McCullough in the 100-meter hurdles (8^th, 16.29 seconds) and Charlotte Diggs in the 400-meter hurdles (6^th, 1:08.18).  

Emory’s men finished third out of 15 teams at the Gem of the Hills Invitational with 93 points scored, while the women finished 10^th out of 18 teams with 18.50 points.

The Eagles will be splitting the squad again next weekend, participating in the Furman Invitational in Greenville, SC and the Ole Miss Invitational in Oxford, MS on Saturday, April 3^rd.