WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (April 3) – Graduate student Clare McSweeney (Cork, Ireland/St. Aloysius) provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships over the weekend, as select members of the California University of Pennsylvania women’s track & field team competed at the 45th-annual Colonial Relays hosted by William & Mary (Va.).
McSweeney posted a time of 2 minutes, 12.89 seconds to finish 12th overall in a field of nearly 80 runners from primarily Division I schools, such as Maryland, Temple and Virginia. In addition to provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship, she also qualified for the PSAC Championships after running the fastest time in the league this year. McSweeney’s time was less than nine-tenths of second shy of breaking the school record set by Holly Urban in 2008.
Sophomore Sandy Estep (Fredericksburg, Va./Chancellor) won her heat and finished 18th overall in the 400-meter dash after posting her fastest time of the year at 58.05 seconds. She also finished with a time of 27.09 seconds in the 200-meter dash.
The 4×400-meter relay of sophomore Shakeria Love (York, Pa./Central York), Estep, sophomore Jerica Snedden (Carrolltown, Pa./Cambria Heights) and McSweeney established a season-best time of 3:54.87 to win its heat, ahead of both Richmond and James Madison, and place 10th overall.
Maryland won the team title with 98 points, while host W&M (81) edged Villanova (79) for second place. A total of 30 different women’s teams accumulated points towards the team standings.
The Vulcans return to action next weekend at several different locations with the majority of the team competing at the North Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C., and the Bennie Benson Memorial Invitational, which is hosted by Robert Morris.