Galligan Starts Outdoor Season Strong By Smashing School Record
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- After narrowly missing out on All-America honors during the indoor season, Washington & Jefferson sophomore Kristen Galligan (Frederick, Md./Governor Thomas Johnson) began the outdoor track & field season in record-setting fashion during the 5,000-meter race at the Wake Forest Open at Kentner Stadium.
Galligan placed second in the 5,000 meters and smashed her own school record by 37 seconds, finishing in a time of 17:07.51. The only runner to finish ahead of Galligan was Ohio University's Julie Accurso (16:21.56). The meet was comprised of runners from all three NCAA divisions, mostly Division I, and Galligan beat 20 Division I runners in the 48-woman field.
In addition, junior Cheyenne Mangold (Boerne, Texas/Texas Military Institute) took 10th place among 34 runners in the 400-meter hurdles. Her time of 1:04.81 was only six-tenths of a second off the school-record pace. Mangold also set a personal-best time of 56.43 in the 400 meters in which she placed seventh. Freshman Brittany Traynor (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) made her outdoor debut in the 100 meters and notched 26th place of 77 runners (12.82).
The W&J men were paced by senior Scott Ryan (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville East), who claimed sixth place in the 54-runner, 5,000-meter field. Ryan ran a time of 14:54.21 and was the top Division III finisher.
Junior Bradley Hanne (Conneaut, Ohio/Center) earned a seventh-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:28.76), while junior Thad Piscatelli (Canonsburg, Pa./Peters Township) placed fourth in the "B" pole vault with a top leap of 12'11 1/2".
Washington & Jefferson will be back on the track in two weeks when it hosts its own annual invitational at Cameron Stadium on March 30th.
