Fitchburg State Bests Wildcat Invitational

Kibler leads men's squad with third place finish; Marrone betters 3000m steeple record

FITCHBURG, Mass. (April 14, 2012) – The Fitchburg State men's and women's track and field teams traveled to the University of New Hampshire this afternoon, competing in the All-Division Wildcat Invitational.

Senior Kat Marrone (Springfield, Mass./West Springfield) led the Fitchburg State women's squad on the afternoon, bettering her school record mark in the 3000m steeplechase with a fifth place finish. Marrone exceeded her previous record by nearly 18 seconds, posting a time of 12:42.31.

Other women runners also cracked the top six in their respective events, including freshman Arthina Robert (Lynn, Mass./Lynn Voc Tech), senior Madeline Merchant (Gardner, Mass./Monty Tech), rookie Rachel Blanchard (Billerica, Mass./Shawsheen Valley) and sophomore Samantha Wilkinson (Wakefield, Mass./Wakefield). Merchant and Blanchard owned the 200m dash with times of 26.90 (4th - DIII) and 27.54 (5th) respectively, while Robert placed third in the 100m dash (13.16) and Wilkinson fourth in the 400m (1:02.74).

The duo of Merchant and Blanchard also fared well in the field, posting top eight finishes in the triple jump. Merchant grabbed the highest finish for the Falcons with a fifth place effort (10.96m), while Blanchard placed seventh with a distance of 9.30m.

Junior Emily Lane (Clinton, Conn./The Morgan School) was strong both on the track and in the field with a trio of top four finishes. Her best finishes of the day (3rd) came in the 400m hurdles (1:06.71 - DIII) and high-jump (1.52m - DIII), while also placing fourth in the pole vault with a DIII height of 2.89m.

Rounding out the day on the track was freshman Jenae Harrison (Sioux Falls, S.D./Washington) and sophomore Bralia Roy (Hyannis, Mass./Barnstable). The pair turned in two, ninth place finishes in the 800m (2:22.79) and 1500m (5:19.63) to round out the top track performances.

In the field, freshman Ebony Schuerman (Fitchburg, Mass./Fitchburg) posted an eighth and ninth place finish in the long-jump (4.43m) and triple jump (8.67m), while senior Megan Gonzalez (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) finished fourth in the discus (34.80m - DIII) and tenth in the shot-put (10.48m).Sophomore Brittany Chace (Foster, R.I./Ponagansett) added a fourth place effort in the javelin (33.52m).

On the men's side, senior Chris Kibler (Bath, Maine/Morse) continues to shine, posting a third place finish in the 5000m with a time of 15:19.62 (DIII), while sophomore Zachary Desrochers (Dracut, Mass./Greater Lowell Tech) continues his dominance of the field with a fifth place showing in the discus (43.08m - DIII) and seventh place hammer finish (50.47m - ECAC).

Freshman Maximum Rocheleau (Winchendon, Mass./Murdock) added to the Falcon mix with strong efforts in the 200m (24.75), 400m (52.77) and long-jump (5.55m), while freshman Brandon Davis (Fitchburg, Mass./Fitchburg) and junior Will Lary (Winchendon, Mass./Murdock) placed well in the 800m (2:02.53 - 23rd) and 1500m (4:08.83 - 14th) respectively.

Sophomore Joseph Hollenbeck (Ashby, Mass./North Middlesex) wrapped up the top men's track efforts with times of 17.17 and 58.98 in the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles, while senior Paul Taddeo (Bellingham, Mass./Bellingham) placed 14th in the shot-put with a distance of 11.16m. Freshman Mark Wesgan (Lunenburg, Mass./Lunenburg) chipped in with a ninth place showing in the triple jump (11.80m)

The Fitchburg State men's and women's track and field teams will be back in action next weekend as it hosts the Eric Loeschner Memorial at 11 a.m.