April 14, 2001
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Western Kentucky University men's and women's track & field teams turned in several strong performances, finishing third and second, respectively, in the Florida State Quad Meet Saturday afternoon at Mike Long Track on the FSU campus in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Lady Toppers fought off challenges by Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman to take runner-up honors in the meet, scoring 127.5 points. The Hilltoppers narrowly missed catching Florida A&M (125 points) for second place, grabbing third-place laurels with 117 points. Florida State claimed both the men's and women's team championships in the day-long event.
Freshman Enda Grandfield (Kerry, Ireland) picked up his second individual title in as many weeks, winning the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:41.5. Grandfield also earned the 5,000-meter crown at the Cardinal Challenge on April 7 in Louisville.
Senior Peter Kimaru (Nairobi, Kenya) logged a third-place finish in the 1,500-meter race (3:56.36), coming in less than one second out of the No. 2 position. The only other top-three finisher for the Hilltoppers was freshman Ryan Thomas (Orchard Park, N.Y.), who took third in the shot put with a toss of 43-10.75.
On the women's side, sophomore Olga Cronin (Cork, Ireland) continued to set the pace. Fresh off her NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 3,000-meter run last week at the Cardinal Challenge, Cronin took second place in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:33.63. In fact, the only runner to beat Cronin was former WKU All-American and 2000 Irish Olympian Breeda Dennehy-Willis, who won the event in 4:19.29.
Dennehy-Willis also led a unique 1-2-3-4 finish for Western Kentucky in the 3,000-meter run. Former Lady Topper standout and assistant coach Michelle Murphy-Scott was second, followed by a pair of current Western runners, junior Terri Hennessy (Cork, Ireland), who finished in 10:25.36, and senior Chaye Mathfield (Kwazula-Natal, South Africa), who was fourth in 10:27.43.
Junior Holly Wilder (London, Ky.) had the other top-three finish for the Lady Toppers, earning the bronze in the high jump with a vault of 5-4.25. It's the second time in as many weeks Wilder has finished third in the high jump after reaching that height.
Both Western Kentucky squads will return to action next Friday (April 20) at the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tenn.
