Womens Track and Field

Ravenna Neville '10 Caps off Career as NCAA Div. III All-American in 5k with 8th-Place Finish

One of 19 participants in the 5k race during the 2010 NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College Thurs.-Sat., May 27-29, Ravenna Neville '10 (photo courtesy of Michael Donnella '76) placed eighth to earn All-America laurels in her first trip to track Nationals. Her time was 17:18.59, exactly five seconds over her qualifying time, and :24.54 out of first place. During the fall, Neville placed 22nd in the NCAA Division III Cross-Country Championship for her first All-America accolade.

Neville qualified for the NCAAs with her effort in the New England Open Championships at Northeastern Thurs.-Sat., May 6-8. While Wesleyan finished in a tie for 33rd of 39 scoring teams, Neville was the top Division III runner in the 5k race and fifth overall among 28 entrants. Her time of 17:13.59 was her fastest of the season and improved her position dramatically on the provisional qualifying list for the NCAA Division III Championships. She had shaved 17 second off her previous best, moving her into a solid spot for the NCAAs as her time was 3.5 seconds faster than the final qualifying time for the 2009 Championships. As a result, Neville was chosen as one of 19 entrants for the 5k race in the NCAAs.

At the annual Little Three meet hosted by Williams back on Sat., April 17. Wesleyan collected 84 teams points while host Williams won the team title with 183 points and Amherst placed second with 122.

Copping first-place points for Wesleyan in the 100m race was Isabella Cucchi '13. She also anchored the Cardinals' second-place 4x100m relay as she was joined by Lia Monti '13, Julia Frieze '12 and Kiran Sheffrin '10.

Wesleyan had four additional top-three individual placings as Neville and Julia Mark '13 took second and third in the 5k event. Neville's time of 17:30.50 initially qualified her provisionally for the NCAA Division III Championships. She went on to compete at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia Thurs., April 22, running in the 10k event. There she finished 20th overall among 34 college finishers and sixth among Division III runners with a time of 36:21.23, good enough for provisional NCAA qualification as well. It was a mere :00.47 over the school record set by Ellen Davis in 2007.

Kathryn Kulowski's '11 second-place effort in the high jump and Kora Shin's '10 runner-up performance in the javelin rounded out the Cardinals' finishes of four team points or better at Little Threes.

At the annual NESCAC Championships, this year hosted by Tufts Sat., April 24, Wesleyan picked up 19 team points to place 8th of 11 squads. Top finishes by Cardinals came from Mark in the 1500m (5th, 4:44.48) and Hannah Zimmerman '13 in the 10k (5th, 39:25.19). Nellie Triedman '13 also placed in the 10k (7th) while Kiran Sheffrin '10 grabbed 8th in the 100m hurdles.

Both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays placed as Monti, Kulowski, Sheffrin and Cucchi placed 6th in the former and Monti, Sheffrin, Frieze and Helen DeKorne '12 came in 8th in the latter.

In field events, Kulowski was 6th in the high jump and Shin was 8th in the javelin.

A contingent of Cardinals made a return trip to Tufts for the New England Division III Championships Fri.-Sat., April 30-May 1. Wesleyan had no individual place among the top eight for any team points. The Cardinals' best finish came from Mark in the 1500m event as her 4:43.77 put her in ninth place.

The final regularly scheduled meet of the season came up Thurs.-Fri., May 13-14 at Springfield, host of the ECAC Division III meet. There just one Cardinal competed as Sarah White '12 placed 14th in the 5k race.