ECAC Outdoor Championship Meet Results

BETHLEHEM, PA (May 20, 2011) – Running in her second ECAC Outdoor Championship and competing in her specialty 800 meters, sophomore Kelly Holmes set a new school record and earned an NCAA Provisional qualifying time with a 2:13.41 performance on Friday afternoon at Moravian College.

Holmes, who won the second of the three heats run, placed third overall in the meet, a mark head coach James McCowan believes is 25th best in the country and could earn her a spot at the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships at Ohio Wesleyan on May 26-28. If selected, however, Holmes won't be able to compete as she leaves for her JYA semester abroad in Copenhagen on Saturday.

Holmes' 2:13.41 time exceeds her previous personal best by nearly three seconds. “Kelly had a tremendous race, and we knew she had something left in the tank for today,” said McCowan. “She was in control of the race throughout, although the second 200 meters was a little slow and she was stuck behind the third and fourth place runners at the time, Kelly stayed patient, even though she lost contact with the leaders. She went for it when the time was right, and took the lead at the 400 meter mark, held her position and pulled away from everyone to win her heat.”

The 800 meter race had 25 total runners, and the race was won by Alyssa Smith of Geneseo State in 12:12.46. “Things came together at the right time for Kelly," said McCowan. "She came into the meet with the right rest after finals and the weather was right. It's a very exciting finish to the season for her.”

Running in the 5,000 meters at the ECAC Outdoor Championships, senior Zoe Carpenter and freshman Aubree Piepmeier finished 10th and 12th overall respectively with 18:07.50 and 18:09.41 times. Thirty-two runners competed in the 1,500 meters, which was won by Jen Rawls of Rowan College in 17:17.06.

“Zoe had close to a personal best race,” said McCowan. “It was a really good run for her. She was controlled getting out pace-wide, maintained that effort, caught a mess of runners and closed through the field. She ran a very smart and tactical race.”

McCowan said Piepmeier went out extremely fast, 78-79 seconds for the first lap, and held pace with the best runners in the region who were attempting to qualify for nationals. “Aubree got a bad stitch in the race, which made it tough to hang in the race. I have to give her credit though; she went for it today and didn't save anything on the track. She's had a lot of breakout races this season and there's just so many of those a runner can have. She had a phenomenal season, one that saw her qualify for the junior nationals. In the next few days we'll determine whether she'll compete after getting some rest.”