Following the example set by senior captain Maureen McCandless, Pitt’s track and field team… Following the example set by senior captain Maureen McCandless, Pitt’s track and field team brought a whole new meaning last weekend to the phrase “records are meant to be broken.”

The strong showing at the Penn State National Open also earned the women’s team a top 25 national ranking. They are now ranked No. 20 in the nation.

Many of the men and women broke personal, meet and Big East records en route to one of the team’s best performances of the season.

“We had an outstanding meet,” head coach Alonzo Webb said. “Earlier this season, we marked this meet on the calendar as one of the most important meets for us, because it is only three weeks out of the Big East Championships. We made much progress as a team, getting tremendous individual performances.”

Among the weekend’s top performers, no one was more remarkable than McCandless, who finished first in the 5,000-meter event, earning an automatic spot at the NCAA championships. Her time of 15 minutes, 48.1 seconds broke the meet and school record by more than a minute.

“She ran against the highest level of competition and automatically qualified for both the Big East and National Championships,” Webb said. “That is something only a handful of athletes across the country can accomplish.”

McCandless shattered the former meet record of 16:10 and has the fastest time in the country right now by almost 30 seconds. Her time is also the fourth fastest in the world this year.

Another senior, Tamara McGill, broke the pentathlon meet record, finishing second with 4,023 points. Her season point total in the pentathlon puts her in second place nationally, likely qualifying her for the NCAA Championships as well.

The women’s team also captured top marks from seniors Amanda Walker and Lamoy Stephens. For the second time this season, Walker finished first in both the shot put and weight-throw (16.53 meters and 20.29 meters, respectively). She ranks fourth and ninth nationally in her events, and her performance qualified her for NCAA provisional status. Stephens finished third in the triple jump with a leap of 12.70 meters. The jump was a personal best for her and puts her at the top of the Big East triple jump standings. Junior Marissa Dudek, who ranks 10th nationally, also performed well, adding a first-place finish in the pole vault.

This year’s men’s team had fewer pre-season expectations than the women’s. However, their equally strong performance at Penn State is another indication that the men are quickly ascending in the world of track and field.

The performance of Pitt’s distance medley team this past weekend is a prime example of its rise. The team of senior captain Jeryl Wilborn (800 meters), sophomores Kareem Cousar (400) and Tim Konoval (1 mile), and freshman Sam Bair (1200 meters) easily captured first with a time of 9:49.43.

“The guys performed really well out there,” Webb said, pleasantly surprised with the outcome. “They went out and beat Villanova, Georgetown and Tennessee, all historically great distance medley teams.”

In addition to the medley’s success, Wilborn finished first in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:19.92, coming just short of a Pitt record. Cousar set a personal record in the 400 meters. Bair took fourth place in the mile and set a personal record with a time of 4:06.40. Pitt also received a fine showing by senior pole vaulter Matt Brousse (5.10 meters). Brousse and freshman teammate Keith Higham are currently one and two, respectively, atop the Big East pole-vault standings.

According to Webb, the team is “right where it should be” at this point in the season, but he is careful not to be overly optimistic.

“We can’t relax or allow ourselves to rest on these accomplishments,” Webb said. “I would like to see us duplicate these results later in the season, but for now, I am very excited and proud of this team.”

The Panthers’next tuneup for the rapidly approaching Big East Championships takes place this weekend. About 14 members of them team will compete at the highly competitive New York Game Collegiate Invitational in Armory, N.Y., while the remaining team members travel to Akron, Ohio, to compete in the Akron Invitational.