Contact: John Sinnett

Campbell Track Sets Two School Records At Penn Relays

PHILADELPHIA – School records in the men's sprint medley relay and the women's 4x1,500 meter relay fell this past weekend as members of the Campbell University track and field teams competed in the 110^th running of the Penn Relays – the largest, most historic track event in the nation.

More than 22,000 participants, including representatives from 249 colleges, competed in front of nearly 112,000 spectators during the three day carnival.

Senior Heather Lee and sophomores Tara Dressler, Jill Stapleton, and Alicia Valtin combined in the 4x1,500 meter relay to break the Campbell record which they had previously set earlier this season.

The quartet ran against some of the strongest team's in the nation in the Championship of America division where they faced the likes of Stanford, North Carolina, Georgetown, Kentucky, and Duke. The team finished 13^th overall in the event with a time of 18:30.70 which was nearly 15 seconds faster than their previous school record set at the Raleigh Relays.

Stanford won the event (17:26.88) followed by Providence and UNC.

In the men's sprint medley relay, junior Jeremy Cucinella, senior David Jenkins, junior Clarence Williams and senior Jeremaine Hood combined to finished 34^th overall with their school-record time of 3:32.54. That time broke the previous Campbell mark of 3:33.70 set by Jeremy Oliver, Brent Beadle, Dameon Harper, and Hugh Ferry in 2000.

The foursome also competed in the Championship of America division where they finished second to South Carolina in their heat. Perennial national sprint relay powerhouses Arkansas, Florida and Tennessee took the top-three spots. A margin of .05 seconds separated the Camels from 33^rd rank East Carolina which has a rich history of competing in the national championship relay events.

Lee, Dressler, Stapleton, and Valtin combined once more on Saturday afternoon to compete in the 4x800 meter relay. The squad competed in the college women's division where they finished 23^rd in 9:19.65. The group set the Campbell record in the event last season, also at the Penn Relays, with a time of 9 minutes, 1.16 seconds.

Lee and Valtin will continue to compete this season as they train for the NCAA Regional meet. Both will head to Stanford, Calif., next weekend to compete in the Stanford Cardinal Invitational meet. The duo will then compete at the Georgia Tech Invitational (5/14-5/15).

Lee now ranks 73^rd nationally, 20th in the East Region, in the 1,500 meters and 19^th in the 5,000 meters (6th in the East Region), while Valtin ranks 84^th nationally in the 1,500 meters and 24^th in the East Region according to the latest TrackShark.com rankings.