Richmond highlights, day 1

It was a productive first day of competition at the Fred Hardy Invitational here at the University of Richmond. Among the highlights:

--Freshman Mark Valentino qualified for the USATF Junior Championships in June with his third-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Tino ran 9:37.71, a 5-second PR time. More importantly, he limboed his way under the qualifying standard of 9:38.00. Nicely done!
--Senior Kyle Havard had a monster breakthrough race in the 1,500, running 4:03.14 and closing in 62 seconds. Awesome to see!
--Junior Katie Messina had a huge PR in the 5,000, placing sixth in 18:21.03. The time eclipsed her previous best by more than 20 seconds. Great job, Katie!
--Sophomore Billy Hild placed fourth in the 10,000-meter run in a PR of 32:34.05, a new best about a second per lap (it’s a 25-lap race, so that’s a pretty good trick!). Fresh went through the 8,000-meter split in 25:54, which is also remarkable. Great job, Billy.
--Freshman Christine Coughlin (4:49.37) and senior Briana Crowe (4:49.93) both had strong races in the 1,500. It’s great watching the two of them race each other, because they are always so close and always seem to push each other to fast times.
--Last but not least, our distance men swept the top spots in the three longest races of the night. Sophomore Kenny Walshak won the 3,000 steeple (9:30.28); Joel Moss proved to be the “big man” in the 5,000 with a winning time of 15:05.72, closing with a stirring kick over the final 200 meters; Arquimedes DelaCruz cruised to victory in the 10,000, running a personal-best time of 31:51.08. The only other time Quimes ran the 25-lap race was out at USATF Juniors in Des Moines in 2010, when he earned All-American status with his time of 32:25.22.

Complete results and splits will be posted as soon as I can get to them.