Forty Philly-Based Athletes at NCAA East RegionalVillanova Group the Largest at 19

Philly Track and Field Athletes Headed To NCAA Eastern Regional Meet
Glenn Papazian
Philly College Sports

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 5/22/2012 - The Philadelphia Division I schools will be well represented at the NCAA Eastern Regional Track and Field meet scheduled for May 24 – 26. Forty athletes from the local schools will compete in the preliminaries starting on Thursday, May 24. Villanova will send the largest contingent to the meet as 19 athletes have qualified, seven men and 12 women to Jacksonville, FL. Penn will send nine to the Jacksonville site (five women and four men). LaSalle will have three men and two women athletes representing the school while Saint Joseph’s will send one distance runner to Florida. Six Temple Owls will travel to the preliminaries on the campus of North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, NC sending four men and two women athletes.

A summary of the competing athletes is below.

Villanova Women

The Wildcats will have 12 athletes competing in 12 events led by defending national champion Sheila Reid running in the 5000 meters. Bogdana Mimic (left) will also participate the 5000 meters. Both have qualified as All-American in the race. Sprinter Sherika Ward will run in the 100 meter hurdles. In the middle distance events Nicky Akande will run in the 800 meters, while Emily Lipari and Ariann Neutts will run in the 1500 meters. Sprinter Christie Verdier is a qualifier in the 400 meters. Running in the 10,000 meters will be freshman Megan Venables. In field events Villanova will be represented by Samantha Francis in the triple jump and Samantha Yeats in the high jump. Jamie Klein will compete in the javelin, and Alexandra Wasik the pole vault.

Villanova Men

Samuel McEntee leads a group of seven Villanova athletes to qualify. McEntee will be joined by Brian Tetreault and Rob Denault in the 1500 meters. Samuel Ellison (right) and Chris FitzSimons will run for the Wildcats in the 800 meters. Sprinter Nicoy Hines will run the 400 meter hurdles. In the field Elbert Maxwell will compete in the long jump.

Penn Women

The Red and Blue will have three women athletes making their second straight appearance. Paige Madison runs in the 400 meters, Victoria Strickland is in the 800 meter event, and Morgan Wheeler is in the javelin. Jillian Hart is making her initial NCAA appearance in the pole vault. Kristen Judge will compete in the high jump.

Penn Men

The Quaker contingent will be led by Hepatagonal High Jump Champions Maalik Reynolds. This will be his second outdoor appearance. Reynolds finished seventh last year, and enters as the 4 seed. Making his second appearance in the 800 is Brian Fulton. Ryan Cunningham will run the 1500 meter race. Jake Brenza also goes to the NCAA Regions for the first time in the shot put.

Temple Men

Travis Mahoney will run the Steeplechase. He is the defending Atlantic 10 champion in this event. In field events Darryl McDuffie will take part in the high jump while Gabe Pickett and Derek Holland will compete in the triple jump. Pickett is the reigning Atlantic 10 champion.

Temple Women

School record holder and Atlantic 10 champion Margo Britton will represent Temple in the shot put. She will also hope to advance to the NCAA finals in the discus. Jade Wilson will run in the 400 meter hurdles.

LaSalle Men

Three Explorers qualified on the men’s meet. Nick Crits will run in the 1500 meters. A pair of runners Alfredo Santana and Dave Hausherr will complete in the 10,000 meter run.

LaSalle Women

Running the 10,000 meters will be Megan McGlinchey who won the Atlantic 10 title in this event. Megan Lutz will compete in the same race.

Saint Joseph’s Men

Kevin McDonnell is set to compete in the 10,000 meter for the second time in his career.