Women’s track and field wins ECAC Championship

The Pitt women’s track and field team placed first in a field of 47 teams at the Eastern… The Pitt women’s track and field team placed first in a field of 47 teams at the Eastern College Atlantic Conference Outdoor Championship last weekend.

Pitt’s 92.20 points was 28.20 points higher than the second-place finisher, Syracuse. Duke took the third-place slot with 54 points.

Pitt had five individual champions in the tournament. Junior Tamara McGill led the Panthers by placing first in two events. She took first in the heptathlon with 5,298 points. McGill is no stranger to first place in the heptathlon. She was the first-place finisher in the Big East Championship two weeks before this tournament.

“Tamara was everything we expected, plus a little more,” head coach Alonzo Webb said.

McGill also placed first in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.58 seconds.

“She came through in a big way for us,” Webb said. “She is really becoming a true superstar.”

Another first-place finisher was Trenace Elliott. She ran the 400-meter dash in 52.86 seconds.

“You can ask anyone on the team about Trenace’s performance — it was amazing,” Webb said. “Her confidence level has increased so much and really has given this team a different outlook.”

Elliott also finished fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.13 seconds.

Janine Jones’s time of 1:00.07 in the 400-meter hurdles was good enough to place her above all the other contenders in that event.

Maureen McCandless claimed first place in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:23.95.

“Maureen was tremendous from start to finish,” Webb said. “She never stopped.”

The four first-place winners were not the only ones who helped Pitt take the ECAC Championship.

Kimberly Lyles finished fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.89 seconds and Nicole Vann finished fifth in the long jump with a distance of 5.96 meters.

Amanda Walker finished third in the shot put with a distance of 15.43 meters.

Added to the individual first place victories, Pitt won the 4×100-meter relay by finishing the event with a time of 45.99 seconds.

“I am so proud of the girls right now. Their confidence level is at an all-time high,” Webb said. “They have always been hard workers, but now everything is falling in place for them.”

The Panthers will travel to Gainesville, Fla. to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships, their most important event to date.

“I expect the girls to have a very solid performance, and expect plenty of girls to qualify for nationals,” Webb Said. “This is an amazing set of girls, they really deserve everything that comes their way.”