April 11, 2008

Results

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Navy women's track & field runner Erica Ziel (So./Saginaw, Mich.) won the 5,000-meter run with an ECAC qualifying time, but it was not enough Army defeated Navy, 119.5-83.5, in the outdoor Star Meet at Shea Stadium in West Point on Friday.

The loss snaps a stretch of 56-straight victories in dual-scored meets, dating back to the 2005 outdoor Star Meet in Annapolis. The setback also ended Navy's three-meet outdoor N-Star winning streak. Earlier this year during the indoor Star Meet in Annapolis, the Midshipmen rallied to claim the N-Star, 93.5-87.5.

The Black Knights won 15 of the 19 events and held at least a 10-point cushion over the final-11 events of the meet.

"Today was just a tough day. Army just came out ready and motivated for (head coach) Jerry Quiller's final Army-Navy meet," stated Navy head coach Carla Criste. "They were able to get out early and kept it going. We came into the meet needing some great efforts to come away with the win. We rose to the occasion in some events, but it wasn't nearly enough."

In the final individual track event of the day, Ziel produced a career-best time of 17:23.80 in the 5,000-meter run to edge out Army's Meg Curran by 1.65 seconds. Ziel's clocking was just 4.53 seconds away from the 10th-fastest time in school history.

The Midshipmen came away with sweeps in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 800-meter run. Arwyn Becker (Sr./Vail, Colo.) won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:58.87, the fifth-best mark in program history, followed Maureen Dooley's (Jr./Durham, Conn.) 11:05.52 showing, the seventh-fastest time in school history. Abby Gesecki (So./Nanticoke, Pa.) paced the field in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:16.89, with Allie Moreland (Jr./Ocean City, N.J.) placing second with a 2:19.40 clocking.

Navy's lone field event victory came in the pole vault, as Jacqui Charnigo (Sr./Medina, Ohio) battled through an injury to clear 3.35 meters. Jessica Schlaegel (So./Nashport, Ohio) tied for second in the event, clearing the 3.20-meter bar.

The Midshipmen will return to action next Friday and Saturday, when they head to the Greyhound Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa.