Lady Raider DMR Squad First in PSAC History to Achieve All-America Status
Mar. 14, 2008
MANKATO, Minn. - The Shippensburg women’s indoor track and field distance medley relay team became the women's first relay team in the history of the PSAC, indoor or outdoor, to achieve All-American status as the group placed seventh Friday night at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships inside Myers Field House at Minnesota State University-Mankato.
The quartet of freshman Abby Huber (Mechanicsburg/Cumberland Valley), sophomore Shannon Hare (Middletown/Middletown), freshman Jamie McCollum (Duncannon/Susquenita) and sophomore Mary Dell (Boiling Springs/Boiling Springs) recorded a time of 12:01.38 that netted the team two points.
Dell’s final leg helped Shippensburg edge eighth-place Massachusetts-Lowell by 47 one-hundredths of a second.
With Friday's performance, Shippensburg now owns all four of the all-time records in the event, owning both PSAC and school records for a flat and banked track. Friday’s time of 12:01.38 is the fastest flat track record in school and PSAC history.
The Lady Raiders entered competition having already broken the school DMR record twice while also owning the PSAC and school records for a banked track. On February 9 at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational held at the New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory in New York, Shippensburg became the first team in PSAC history to break the 12-minute mark, finishing in 11:59.08.
Entering the national championships, the group was the first relay team in school history to qualify for the national championships as well as the first women's relay team in PSAC indoor history to do so.
The DMR squad first broke the record on January 25 at the Bison Open & Multi, taking home first place in the event with a time of 12:09.46, which was an NCAA provisional qualifying time and just over two seconds short of the PSAC record.
The school records set by the group on January 25 and February 9 were the first two times that the four runners had competed in the event together.
The team's achievement at this year's national championships is just the latest highlight for the Shippensburg track and field program under head coach Dave Osanitsch '96 who was recently named the NCAA Division II Women's Indoor Track and Field East Region Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA on Tuesday.
In other action on Friday, men's track and field senior Jamal James (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin) finished ninth in the long jump with a mark of 22' 3 1/2", just missing All-America status which is given to the top eight finishers. Despite battling plantar fascia in his plant foot, he missed eighth-place by just 1 3/4".
In the high jump, red-shirt freshman Leander Toney Jr. (Lancaster/J.P. McCaskey) scratched in his effort to place and was unable to record any points.
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