Jan. 15, 2006

BLACKSBURG, Va. - East Carolina women's track athletes earned six first-place sectional heat finishes while 20 established new personal records to highlight the beginning of the Curt Kraft coaching era at the season-opening Virginia Tech Invitational Saturday.

Freshman Shaliece Anderson (42.44), sophomore Portia Baker (40.43), senior Terri Davenport (40.08) and sophomore Chante Sessoms (42.23) all turned in personal-best times while capturing heat titles in the 300-meter dash. In addition, sophomore Kerry Girona won her heat in the 500-meter run with a career-best time of 1:23.09 while freshman Hollie Brooks stood first in an 800-meter run heat, recording a time of 2:25.89.

In the pole vault event, sophomore Amy Hart and junior Lindsey Rosales finished in a tie for seventh overall with efforts of 3.50 meters.

Other ECU sectional heat performances of note include a second-place standing by Davenport in the 200 meters (25.21) and third-place finishes by sophomore Aisha Bilal-Mack (1:18.88) and Erinn Latta (1:25.21) in the 500-meter run. The pair also stood fourth in separate 800-meter heats with 2:23.06 and 2:36.00 times, respectively.

The Lady Pirates' "A" 4x400 relay squad, consisting of Anderson, Baker, Bilal-Mack and Simone Baptiste, posted an ECAC qualifying time of 3:58.42 and finished third in its heat, while the "B" quartet (Girona, Jaslyn Grullon, Jenee Moore and Deirdre Parrish) stood fourth with a clocking of 4:19.55.

Kraft was appointed to head ECU's women's track program August 8, 2005 after a 14-year affiliation with the University of Nevada, where he spent 10 honor-producing seasons as head women's track and field coach. He was a three-time coach-of-the-year selection (Western Athletic Conference, Big West Conference) who guided a Wolf Pack squad to consistent placement among the nation's top 25 of the National Collegiate Division I Team Power Rankings.

The Lady Pirates will return to action Saturday at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla., to compete in the Gator Invitational.

TOP 10 EAST CAROLINA RESULTS
Pole Vault
7. Amy Hart, 3.50
7. Lindsey Rosales, 3.50