Teams: Men's Track & Field: Press Releases

Date: Monday, May 27, 2002

DEVINE A DOUBLE SUCCESS AT TRACK NATIONALS

MEDFORD – Junior hurdler Greg Devine (Springfield, MA/Central) of the Tufts University men's track & field team did something this season no other hurdler in school history has done. He qualified to run at the NCAA National Championship Meet in both the 110- and 400 Meter Hurdles events, according to Head Coach Connie Putnam.

Devine took it one step further, finishing in the top five in both events for a stellar performance on a national stage in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Sophomore Jessica Trombly (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) placed 12th in the Heptathlon in the women's meet. Tufts junior hurdler Bryan Pitko (Arlington, MA/Arlington) qualified to compete in the 110 Hurdles, but his preliminary time of 15.12 seconds did not qualify for the final.

The meet ran from Thursday through Saturday (May 23-25). In his first action on Thursday, Devine qualified for the final in the 400 Hurdles with time of 52.44 seconds. On Friday he lined up with Pitko in the 110 preliminaries and finished in 14.87 seconds to reach the final nine again. Devine was one of just two hurdlers to qualify for the finals in both events at Nationals. Senior Jason Kolkmeier of Anderson College in Indiana was the other.

In the 110 final at 2:20 pm CST on Saturday, Devine burned a 14.51 that was a whisker out of second place, which was taken by Enrique Llamos of Montclair State in 14.50 seconds. Chris Pearson of Carroll College in Wisconsin won with a 14.26 time. In the 400 final at 4:10 pm, Devine edged Kolkmeier for fifth place with a time of 52.96 seconds. Sophomore Derek Toshner of Wisconsin-LaCrosse won in 51.26 seconds. Devine' s pair of performances, which landed Tufts 26th place overall with 10 points, clearly established him as the meet' s best all-around hurdler.

Trombly, who evolved as a Heptathlete only this year, was fourth in the 200 Meter Run (25.8 seconds) and in the 800 Meter Run (2:21.10) to help amount 4,266 total points for 12th out of 17. She was second among New England competitors behind Springfield College' s Erin Pac, who scored 4,304 points. Trombly was also ninth in the 100 Meter Hurdles with a time of 15.93 seconds.

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