JMU Earns Runner-Up Finish at ECAC Outdoor Championships

Friday, May 13

Princeton, N.J.

All Day

James Madison University

ECAC Outdoor Championships

JMU Earns Runner-Up Finish at ECAC Outdoor Championships

5/15/2016 2:58:00 PM | Track & Field

PRINCETON, N.J. - A record-breaking performance in the 4x100-meter relay powered the James Madison track & field team to a second-place finish out of 55 scoring teams at the 2016 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Outdoor Championships on Sunday.

Junior Annie Johnson, sophomore Aereale Scott, junior Kennedy King and freshman Meredith Willis crossed the finish line in 45.66 seconds to set a new JMU program record and place first out of eight teams. The record was previosuly held by McDonald, Simmons, Williams and Morris, who set a mark of 45.91 seconds during both the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

Overall, the Dukes finished with 54 points, just 3.5 points behind the eventual ECAC Champion, Cornell. The rest of the top five included Bucknell (38), Albany (38) and New Hampshire (34).

Also winning her event was graduate student Amber Monroe, who put up a mark of 15.53 meters (50'11.5") in the shot put to stand atop the leaderboard, earn 10 points and win her second event of the weekend following a victory in the discus throw on Friday. The performance earned her the Most Outstanding Performer Award for the meet.

In the 1,500-meter run finals, junior Carol Strock placed second out of 12 runners with a time of 4:24.80, shaving almost 10 full seconds off of her time in the prelims and adding another eight points to the JMU tally.

Scott's two-point contribution in the 100-meter hurdles thanks to a seventh-place finish rounded out the day for the Dukes.

Those who have qualified will head to Jacksonville, Fla. from May 26-28 for the 2016 NCAA East Regionals as the Dukes season nears its close.

QUOTING COACH TA' FRIAS
"We came into the meet with the same mindset we've had all year and as a result we were a few points shy of a team championship. We are a strong team in both talent and heart and we are very proud of how we did today."

NOTEWORTHY
The Dukes also placed second as a team in the 2015 ECAC Championships, where they earned 40 points with 52 teams scoring.

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