March 7, 2008
The Pitt women's track and field team will travel to Boston for the ECAC Championships on March 8-9. The women are coming off of a fifth-place finish at the Big East Championships where they had several top competitors.
Leading the Panthers in sprints will be Shantea Calhoun (New Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross), who claimed first-place in both the 60 and 200-meters at this year's league championships. Also competing in the 60-meter dash will be juniors Janessa Murphy (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) and Raquel Bender (Penn Hills, Pa./Penn Hills). Bender will be joined by Shanea Calhoun (New Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross) and Da'Lynn Mills (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) in the 200-meter event.
In addition to sprints, Murphy will compete in jumps this weekend, coming off her second consecutive league title in the long jump with a distance of 6.21 meters. Murphy will be joined by teammate Martina Hallman (Miami, Fla./Miami Southridge) who is also a qualifier in both the long and triple jumps.
Sophomores Kaetlyn Brown (Pittsburgh, Pa./Schenley) and Kari Hedderick (Erie, Pa./Fort Lebouf) are slated to compete in the 400 and 500-meter events. Brown garnered her first all-conference honor with a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash at the Big East Championships.
Pitt will be well-represented in the distance events, with senior Ali Briggs (Washington, Pa./Washington) set to compete in the 1,000 meter event. In addition, senior Amy Ruffolo (Wexford, Pa./Duquesne) is a qualifier for the 3,000 meters, and Anna Yoney (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) will represent the Panthers in the 5,000 meters.
Mycaiah Clemons (New Kensington, Pa./Virginia Tech) and Brianna Broyles (Allentown, Pa./William Allen) are set to compete in the 60-meter hurdles after posting qualifying marks at the league championships. Clemons received her first All-Big East Selection after claiming second-place in the event.
Pitt will also be sending a team to compete in the 4x400-meter relay. 
