April 19, 2003

Contact: Bob McComas (724) 738-2777 e-mail: robert.mccomas@sru.edu

WILPULA QUALIFIES FOR NATIONALS, SETS SCHOOL RECORD

            SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University men’s pole vaulter Nick Wilpula (Mercer/Mercer HS) qualified for the NCAA national meet and set a school record Saturday when he had a winning vault of 17 feet in the SRU Invitational outdoor track and field competition at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.

           Wilpula’s vault bettered the previous school record of 16 feet, 6¾ inches, set by Chad Eberhart in 1997.

Two other Rock standouts – women’s field event phenom Mackenzie Gurcak (jr., Pittsburgh/Baldwin HS) and women’s sprinter Linsey Westerman (sr., Freeport/Freeport HS) – improved upon their provisional national-qualifying marks in the event.

            Gurcak threw the shot put 44 feet, 9 inches, and tossed the discus 152 feet, 8 inches, while Westerman had a winning time of 14.38 seconds in the 100-yard hurdles.

            Westerman also won the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:01.85 and ran a leg of the winning 4X100 (48.63) and 4X400 (3:56.23) relays.

Ben Steingrabe (jr., Hermitage/West Middlesex HS) won both the men’s 110 hurdles (14.70) and 200 (22.74), while Kristen Jones (so., Enola/Bible Baptist HS) won the women’s 100 (12.37) and triple jump (36-5¾).

Other individual first-place finishes by Rock student-athletes included Rob Flatt (sr., Butler/Butler HS) in the men’s steeplechase (9:50.85), Meredith Hubbard (jr., Gibsonia/Pine Richland HS) in the women’s 3000 (10:42.66) and Karyn McCready (jr., Johnstown/Westmont Hilltop HS) in the women’s javelin (155-10).

The Rock will send representatives to two competitions next week, the prestigious Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia (April 24-26) and the Baldwin-Wallace Invitational in Berea, Ohio, next Saturday, April 26.

# ROCK PRIDE #