April 26, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - Navy men's track & field runner John Olsen (Sr./Staten Island, N.Y.) and thrower Mark Van Orden (So./Morris Plains, N.J.) each produced a NCAA regional-qualifying mark to highlight the team's performance at the prestigious Penn Relays at Franklin Field this Thursday through Saturday.

Olsen, Navy's first competitor at the three-day event, started things in fine fashion with a blistering time of 8:58.31 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The eighth-place effort marked the first time in his career that he had cracked the nine-minute mark in the event.

Two days later, Van Orden looked to end the weekend the same way it had started, this time in the hammer throw. He uncorked a toss of 195'1" (59.47 meters) to surpass the NCAA regional-qualifying standard by nearly nine feet to land second in the event.

The Midshipmen finished among the top-10 performers in four other events, three of which came on Saturday. Navy's 4x800-meter relay of Lucas Burke (Sr./Bakersfield, Calif.), Craig Meekins (Sr./Baldwin, N.Y.), David Ash (Fr./Williamston, Mich.) and Paul Harris (Sr./Fairburn, Ga.) combined for a third-place time of 7:33.85 on Saturday, the fifth-fastest clocking in school history.

Devan Clark (Fr./Lorton, Va.) placed fourth in the javelin throw with a toss of 198'2" (60.41 meters), followed by teammate Bo Lawson's (Sr./Newton, N.J.) fifth-place distance of 195'2" (59.51 meters) on Saturday. One day earlier in the shot put, Darryl Hunter (Sr./Des Moines, Iowa) placed ninth in the championship division with a mark of 53'4-1/2" (16.27 meters), while Andre Barber (Sr./Carrollton, Texas) came in eighth in the Eastern division with his 51'1-3/4" (15.59 meters) effort.

In the IC4A section of the 4x200-meter relay on Saturday, the quartet of Shun White (Jr./Raleigh, N.C.), Will Ricks (Sr./Hopewell, Va.), Reggie Campbell (Sr./Sanford, Fla.) and Ron Belany (Sr./Haiku, Hawai'i) crossed the finish line in 1:28.15 for sixth. One day before, White, Kevin Edwards (Fr./Charlotte, N.C.), Campbell and Belany teamed up for a 1:26.96 showing during the heats section to finish 22nd overall.

The Midshipmen will begin the championship portion of their outdoor season on May 2-3, when they host the Patriot League Championship at Ingram Field in Annapolis.