Clements, Avery, Litzell, and Wehrli Earn Track and Field Awards
MAAC Sports
EDISON, N.J.- Kieran Clements and Kate Avery of Iona College, Love Litzell and Lydia Wehrli of Manhattan College are this weeks Outdoor Track and Field award winners.
Junior Kieran Clements led four members of the Iona College men's outdoor track team in the 10,000 meter event at the 2015 Stanford Invitational late Friday night in Stanford, California. Running with two teammates in the second section of the 10k event at Stanford, Clements finished sixth overall with a personal best time of 28:57.57, the seventh fastest time in school history and the seventh ever time in less than 29 minutes. The time stands as the sixth fastest in the East early this outdoor campaign and 17th fastest in the NCAA.
Junior Kate Avery made her 2015 outdoor track debut in grand fashion, setting a school record in the 5,000-meter event at the Stanford Invitational in Stanford, California late Friday evening. Avery finished sixth overall and was the first collegiate finisher in the top section of the 5,000-meter event running against several world class athletes. She was sixth overall with her time of 15:25.63. Avery lowered her own school record of 15:27.90 by more than two seconds, set a year ago in the same event. Last year’s time in Stanford led to an NCAA appearance in the 5k and an eighth place, All-America finish. Avery now owns the top four fastest times in school history and has cracked the 16-minute mark three times in her collegiate career, the only Iona woman to accomplish the feat. Boise State's Emma Bates was the number two collegiate finisher in 15:32.46. A trio of professionals finished within four-tenths of a second of each other in under 15:20. Avery holds the top 5k time in the NCAA over Bates by nearly seven seconds and the top time in the East over Boston College’s Liv Westphal by nearly eight seconds.
Litzell moved into seventh place on the NCAA leaderboard in the hammer throw with his winning effort at Princeton’s Sam Howell Invitational on Friday. He had a first-place toss of 67.70 meters (222 feet, one inch), as Manhattan went 1-3 in the event.
Wehrli broke her own school record while taking third in the hammer throw at Princeton University’s Sam Howell Invitational on Friday. She got out to 58.50 meters (192 feet, three inches), bettering her previous mark of 58.33 m (191’4), set in 2013. That effort was also the 38th-best mark in the NCAA this year.
The 2015 MAAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be held May 2-3 at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J.