Sports > May 1, 2008

By Nick Oliphant | Staff writer

The Wake Forest track and field team finished up competition April 24-26 at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Penn.

Several members of the women’s team recorded high finishes.

In the 4x200m relay the Deacons took a 16th place with a 1:37.63 mark. Seniors Molly Kennedy and Michelle Loyd teamed up with sophomores Alex Gove and Nicole Castronuova.

In the Sprint Medley championships, freshman Anna Nosenko replaced Gove and the Deacs finished sixth in the trials with a time of 4:00.15.

Loyd, a Durham, N.C., native, finished first in the 400m hurdles with a time of 58.95 seconds. It was the first individual win for the Deacons at the event since the late 1980s. Gove ran her season best time of 1:01.08 in the event taking 11th place overall.

Also performing well were senior Jill Ahrens and junior Carly Mauch. Ahrens finished second in the pole vault with a mark of 12’ 5.25”, while Mauch finished second in the javelin, with a throw over 140’ 1”.

Nosenko finished out competition with a 4:51.88 mile run for a seventh place overall finish.

On the men’s side, the Deacs finished 13th in the 4x200m trials with a time of 1:25.57. Senior Kerry Major, sophomore Jon Reid, freshman Allen Lunkenheimer and junior Phillip Warsaw were the competitors.

Sophomore Thomas Sensing, who represented Wake Forest in several field events, recorded a season best shot put of 54’ 11.5”. The throw was good for fourth place in the event.

“Our team is looking great going into the post season. We expect to turn heads at the regional meet,” Director of Track and Field Annie Bennett said of the team’s performance.

After exams the team will compete at the North Carolina Fast Times May 9 in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Prior to the Penn Relays, the men’s track team received academic recognition from the NCAA. The honor was for receiving academic marks that placed the team in the top 10 percent of Division I teams nationwide.

“Academic excellence is something we in the athletic department take extreme pride in,” Bennett said. “We will continue to excel both in the classroom and in competition.”

There are six events remaining of the schedule that various athletes will compete in, including when Wake Forest hosts the Deacon Combined events May 14-15.

The Deacons will then begin the post season May 30 at the NCAA East Regional Championship in Tallahassee, Fla. If successful there, they would move on to the National Championship June 12 in Des Moines, Iowa.