March 6, 2010

Results

BOSTON - Jess Palacio (So., Sun Valley, Nev.) posted the seventh-fastest mile time in program history and Kristin Smith (Fr., Harleysville, Pa.) earned All-East laurels with a fifth-place finish in the high jump, highlighting the Navy women's track & field team's efforts at the ECAC Championship on Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center.

After five scored events, Connecticut leads the team standings with 29.5 points, followed by Rhode Island's 21 points and Boston University's 12 points. On the strength of Smith's high jump effort, Navy sits in 19th with four team points.

"It was a great first day with Jess making it through to the finals of the mile and Kristen earning All-East honors," said Navy head coach Carla Criste. "We're looking forward to seeing what Jess can do coming off today's PR and we also will have another exciting underclassmen in action with Amanda Phelps in the weight throw."

Palacio turned in a career-best time of 4:54.82 showing, the ninth-fastest among Saturday's milers. It ranks as the seventh-fastest mile ever posted by a Navy women's track runner. Palacio now stands third all-time among the program's fastest milers, behind only Kim McGreevy ('95) and Amy Baxter ('01).

Smith, meanwhile, took fifth in the high jump after a successful clearance of 5'6.5" (1.69 meters) to conclude a stellar indoor campaign.

Other action saw Mansfield Murph (So., Mechanicsville, Va.) place 18th in the 500 (1:16.77) and the 4x800 team of Murph, Palacio, Abby Gesecki (Sr., Nanticoke, Pa.) and Mollie Hebda (So., Pittsburg, Pa.) finishing 13th overall in 9:16.46.

A full day of championship action picks back up on Sunday, beginning with the 20-pound weight throw at noon.

## Go Navy! ##