FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
S-106-07-08
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Ten Elizabethtown College Athletes to Participate in 2008 Penn Relay Carnival

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College will send 10 members of its men's and women's track and field teams to the 114th Penn Relay Carnival, to be held Thursday through Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

The Blue Jays will have entries in five of the 317 events to be held at the Penn Relays, which has been held annually since 1895 and draws 22,000 athletes from 60 countries as well as over 100,000 fans to the three-day competition.

On Thursday, the women's 4x400 meter relay team of graduate student Lori Havrilak (West Grove, PA/St. Mark's, DE), junior Chelsea Miles (Media, PA/Penncrest), senior Meghan Ryder (Hatboro, PA/Hatboro-Horsham) and junior Tiffany Kulp (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge) will compete in the Centennial/MAC relay at 6:35 p.m., and senior Erin Fisher (McEwensville, PA/Warrior Run) will run in the College Women's 10,000 meters at 10:00 p.m.

Last year, Fisher finished 15th in a field of 20 mostly Division I runners with an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying time of 36:43.41, while the 4x400 relay team will look to return to the form that earned it three straight race wins from 2004 to 2006, including a race and school record time of 3:57.64 in 2006.

On Friday, the men's 4x400 meter relay quartet of senior Kevin Clark (Horsham, PA/Hatboro-Horsham), sophomore A.J. Farris (Edgewood, MD/Joppatowne), senior Drew Graybeal (Woodbine, MD/Glenelg) and junior Dylan Rulander (Russell, PA/Eisenhower) will participate in the annual Pop Haddleton MAC relay at 5:25 p.m.

Later, at 6:40 p.m., the Blue Jay team of Farris, sophomore Mike Mauger (Pottstown, PA/The Hill School), Graybeal and Rulander will take part in the College Men's sprint medley relay.

In last year's Pop Haddleton MAC 4x400 relay, the Blue Jays won the 12-team race with a season-best time of 3:18.89, as both Clark and Graybeal competed in the race. The sprint medley relay team won their heat and took 20th overall with a program-record time of 3:27.27, with Mauger and Graybeal in action.

On Saturday, Clark will participate in the College Men pole vault championship at 2:00 p.m. He is a four-time All-American in the pole vault, and won the 2007 NCAA Division III indoor championship in the event. Clark's career outdoor best in the event is 16 feet, 6 inches set in 2006.

Also competing at the Penn Relays will be 2004 Elizabethtown College graduate Dave Berdan, who is entered in the Olympic Development 10,000 meters on Thursday night at 10:45 p.m. He will be trying to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the event where the provisional standard is 29:10.

Berdan was the NCAA Division III runner-up in the event in 2004 and holds the school record of 30:14.54 set at the Penn Relays in 2004.