May 30, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Four University of Richmond track & field student-athletes begin competition at the 2008 NCAA East Regional Championship Friday, hosted by Florida State University at the Mike Long Track Complex in Tallahassee. You can follow all the action throughout the weekend with live stats here on RichmondSpiders.com.

Senior Jonathan Molz leads the Spiders into the Sunshine State and will run the 3,000m steeplechase Saturday evening. Sophomore Andrew Benford also qualified in the steeplechase and runs the 5,000m that is slated as the final event Friday evening.

On the women's side, a pair of freshmen represent the Spiders with Monica Howard in the javelin and Nicol Traynor in the 5,000. The javelin finals are scheduled for early Friday evening and the women's 5,000 runs prior to the men's.

Benford and Molz hold the A-10's third- and fifth-fastest times, respectively, this season in the 3,000m steeplechase as both achieved them at the Penn Relays in late April. Benford clinched his NCAA Regional spot with a time of 8:59.11, finishing ninth in the college championship division - an event that featured the nation's top collegiate steeple runners and no less than five All-Americans. Molz, a native of East Northport, N.Y., was third in the men's college division with a qualifying time of 9:04.89.

A Ravenswood, W.Va. native, Benford also runs the 5,000m in the NCAA Regional after placing second in the University section of the event at the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays in Los Angeles in mid-April. His time of 14:09.01 eclipsed the NCAA Regional standard of 14:12.00 by nearly three seconds and currently ranks second in the conference.

Traynor, a freshman from Baskin Ridge, N.J., turned in a stellar performance at the A-10 Championship with her NCAA Regional qualifying mark in the 5,000. She raced to the finish in 16:42.96, which was good for the bronze medal and just six seconds shy of the Richmond school record. The time stands as the fastest in the event by a Spider freshman in school history.

A freshman from Wilmington, Ohio, Howard captured the Spiders' lone gold medal at the A-10 Championship and qualified for the NCAA Regional in the process with her mark of 38.41m in the javelin. It currently stands as the third-longest throw in the conference this season.

Should any of the Spiders qualify, the NCAA National Championship is set for June 11-14 in Des Moines, Iowa.