Lehman & York Women Set To Shine at NCAA Indoor Championships This Weekend

New York, NY With the 2002 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships on tap for this weekend in Ada, Ohio, the Lehman College and York College women's teams are very optimistic about their chances come March 8-9.

The Lehman Lightning women's team, fresh off a third place team finish at the ECAC Championships in Boston, will look for two-time All-American Paulette Baldwin to lead the way. The 5'11 junior who's originally from Trenton, NJ was the only automatic qualifier in the nation in the 55-meter hurdles with a strong time of 8.01 seconds, 0.35 ticks ahead of her nearest competitor.

"I would like to see Paulette win this year," said Lightning head coach Lesleigh Hogg. "She's been training extremely hard for this and I can honestly say she's earned the right to be number one going in."

Also qualifying for NCAA's is freshman Alecia Watson in the women's triple jump with a distance of 11.39 meters. Lehman also boasts the only CUNY man to qualify, senior Nabie Fofanah, who ranks second in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.33 seconds, only one-tenth behind the national leader.

For first time ever, the York women are going to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. This year the Cardinals 4x400m relay team qualified running an impressive time of 3:57.4 in the CUNYAC Indoor Championships at the Armory Track Center. Senior Candace Mussenden, sophomore Shakima Thomas, junior Daphine Wilson, and senior Shanequa Sanders will attempt to be the school's first ever All-Americans with a top-eight finish.

Individually, Mussenden and Thomas will also compete in the 400m dash. Mussenden ran a qualifying time of 57.89 in early January, and Thomas ran a qualifying time of 58.06 in the CUNYAC Championships in late February.

"The women are doing a good job this season. We're hoping that each of them will stay healthy and represent York well in the Championships," said Head Coach Thomas Pope. In all 10 student-athletes will represent the City University of New York, five each from the two schools.

--CUNY--