Penn Relays official site
PHILADELPHIA – Junior
Lynn Mayer reached the NCAA Division II automatic qualifying standard with a career-best jump of 5-9 3/4 as East Stroudsburg University continued its domination of the women's Eastern high jump at the Penn Relays on Thursday at Franklin Field.
The Warriors had won the last two titles in the event, Mayer in 2008 and senior
Janelle Smith in 2009. Smith cleared 5-7, her best mark of the season, to finish eighth overall and provisionally qualified for her fourth trip to the NCAA Championships.
Mayer, a three-time All-American, surpassed the previous record in the event (5-9 1/4) and finished second behind Connecticut's Jasmine Cribb, who cleared 5-11 1/4. Daphne Fitzpatrick (Texas A&M) won the women's College high jump at 5-8 3/4.
She just missed on her three attempts at 5-11 1/4, which would have broken the school record of 5-10 held by her coach, Karen (Way) Gaita, a four-time All-American and the 1991 NCAA outdoor champion. Mayer tied for second in the nation at the NCAA indoor championships at 5-8 1/2 last month.
Senior
Trina Carito also posted a season best of 5-4 1/2 in the high jump and ran the second leg on the women's 4x400m relay that finished fifth in its heat of nine teams, which included six Division I schools.
The Warriors clocked a four-second season best of 3:55.24 with Carito the lone veteran on a squad that featured freshmen
Lauren Ventrella,
Tara Getz and
Lauren Hannan. Ventrella led off in 58.0 seconds, followed by Carito (58.1), Getz (59.3) and Hannan (59.8).
Mount St. Mary's won ESU's heat in 3:51.19, followed by Towson, Navy and Monmouth, all Division I institutions.
ESU also had two entrants in the women's Eastern shot put. Senior
Amanda Sines threw 38-2 1/4 and junior
Emily Carothers posted a mark of 35-8.
The Warriors will have a full slate of action at Penn on Friday, highlighted by the men's 4x400 in the Wetzler/Pennsylvania Relay. The men's and women's 4x200 and men's 4x100 will also run, along senior
Paul Wagner in the men's Eastern shot put and senior
Matthew Gallup in the men's Eastern pole vault.