Feb. 8, 2008

Boston, Mass. - Stony Brook's women's track and field team held its own at the Valentine Invitational hosted by Boston University on Friday, led by freshman Lucy Van Dalen's (Wanganui, New Zealand) performance in the mile.

Van Dalen finished 5th overall with a time of 4:46.32. She was the first collegiate athlete to cross and set a new Stony Brook school record. Her time was an NCAA Provisional qualifying time, making her only the second female athlete to make the national indoor list since the Seawolves became a Division I program. She was followed closely by teammate sophomore Laura Huet (Carrickmines, Ireland) who crossed 10th overall (4:55.04) and improved upon her ECAC qualifying time.

Stony Brook's other top-ten finishers were senior Dana Hastie (Wellington, New Zealand) who also improved her ECAC qualifying time by finishing seventh overall (third collegiate) in the 3,000-meter (9:41.46) and sophomore Lisa Voltaire (Stockholm, Sweden) who placed 10th in the 1,000-meter (2:58.76). The women's distance medley relay team of Van Dalen, Voltaire, Huet and sophomore Stephanie Vos (Apalachin, N.Y.) also qualified for the ECAC's when they finished with a time of 11:50.79, which was good enough for second overall.

The Stony Brook men's track and field team will compete at the Valentine Invitational tomorrow starting at 11:00 a.m.