Berea, Ohio (April 18, 2009) -- The Thiel College men's and women's track and field teams put on an incredible show at the Paul "Sparky" Anderson Invitational at Baldwin Wallace College on Saturday.  Four Thiel College athletes reached qualifying standards, while a relay team was a mere tenth of a second away from hitting a national time.

Leading this pack of 'Cats was Erie, Pa. native, Alex Eaton (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep.), who placed first in the 400-meter dash with a provisional qualifying time of 47.99.  This blistering time was not only the fastest time in school history; it also now ranks as the fastest time in the nation.

Sophomore athlete, Kim Stitt (Hermitage, Pa./Hickory), continued her week of dominance by capturing her fourth first place finish of the week, triple jumping her way into national contention with a leap of 11.33 meters.  Freshman thrower, Kylie Czulewisz's, first place throw of 40.08 meters in the javelin was good enough to provisionally qualify for national competition.

Rounding out this group of qualifiers was perennial all-American, Dorran Coley (Kingston, Jamaica/Kingston College), who lowered his provisionally qualifying time in the 110-meter high hurdles, with a time of 14.79.

Eaton and Coley would join forces with their 4x400-meter comrades, Ethan Rowe (Fairmont City, Pa./Redbank Valley) and Deighton Williams (Kingston, Jamacia/Kingston College), to just miss qualifying nationally by a little over a tenth of a second with a first place finishing time of 3:16.92.