Women’s track wins Western Pa. meet at Carnegie Mellon

The Pitt women’s track team combined senior leadership with freshmen athleticism to dominate… The Pitt women’s track team combined senior leadership with freshmen athleticism to dominate the Western PA Track and Field Championship held at Carnegie Mellon University Saturday, setting several meet and stadium records.

Freshmen twins Shanea and Shantea Calhoun each won individual events, and in the 4×100- and 4×400-meter relays, they teamed up with seniors Kim Lyles and Lamoy Stevens to claim two more victories. The relay team’s time of 46.18 seconds in the 4×100-meter was a new meet and stadium record.

“They have competed well all year long,” head coach Alonzo Webb said of the twins. “I don’t even consider them freshmen. I just consider them talented athletes.”

Shanea was first in the 200 meters with a time of 25.02 seconds, a new meet record, while Shantea ran the 400 in a time of 58.37 to take first place.

“They don’t compete like freshmen,” Webb said. “They are so mature in the way they compete, the way they approach competition and practice. All of our freshmen are the same way, they come ready to compete.”

When asked what he attributes the maturity to, Webb was quick to answer.

“I think it is because of the leadership we have on the team now,” he said. “Our co-captains Kim Lyles and Maureen McCandless and the other seniors like Tamara McGill, Amanda Walker and Lamoy Stevens, that’s a great group of girls. They are big leaders for this team. Our girls rally around them, listen to them and respect them.”

The seniors led by example on Saturday.

McGill claimed a stadium and meet record in the 100 hurdles by running a time of 13.45 in the preliminaries — one hundredth of a second from her own personal best. Her time in the finals was slower because of the deteriorating weather conditions but was still fast enough to claim first place by a comfortable margin.

“In those conditions, she competed very well,” Webb said. “In the finals, it got really cold and started to rain so we were just taking it easy.”

Walker claimed a pair of victories of her own, in shot put with a toss of 13.59 meters and discus with 42.56 meters.

“She does her thing week in and week out,” Webb said of Walker. “Sometimes I think people take her for granted. She is such a competitor. Each time she steps in the ring, she is always going to get it done.”

Walker also claimed second in the hammer throw.

Sophomore Krystal Epps was first in the 800 with a time of two minutes and 16.7 seconds, only 1.5 seconds slower then McCandless’ meet record set back in 2003. Junior Joelle Ambrose took first in the 400 hurdles.

The Panthers showed off their depth in the sprints by forming a “B” 4×100 relay team of Martina Hallman, Lauren Tyler, Ambrose and McGill that finished in second, behind the “A” team, but ahead of all others in a time of 50.83 seconds. The “B” team is not allowed to count towards the overall scoring of the meet.

While Webb was not concerned with the scoring of the meet, the Panthers still finished first with 219 points, 67.5 points ahead of second place Robert Morris University.