Boston, MA (1/28/11) – Competing against as field of predominately Division I, II and club competitors the Montclair State women’s indoor track and field team put forth several outstanding results as the Red Hawks took part in the Terrier Classic held at Boston University on Friday.

Montclair’s 4x400 relay squad came within a second of posting an NCAA Championship provisional qualifying mark while several individuals won heats in their respective events.

The 4x400 relay event was the main highlight for Montclair as the team of Ashadaya Patterson (Trenton, NJ / Northern Burlington), Michelle McNulty (Bayonne, NJ / Bayonne), Heather Gearity (Rutherford, NJ / Rutherford) and Krystal Ellis (Morristown, NJ / Morristown) finished eighth overall in the event. Their time was 4:00.33, just .83 seconds off the provisional time (3:59.50) for the national championship meet, which will be held on March 11-12 at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio and was the third-fastest recorded time in Division III heading into this weekend's action.

The Red Hawks’ second team in the event which consisted of  Hannah Campbell (Forked River, NJ / Lacey Township), Ashley Powell (Orange, NJ / Marylawn of the Oranges), Antoinietta Altilio (Rutherford, NJ / Rutherford) and Angelina Ollo (Parsippany, NJ / Parsippany) ran a time of 4:22.60. 

Gearity would lead a strong showing by the Red Hawks in the 400 meters as she won her heat with a time of 59.54 and finished 17th overall in the event. Campbell also won her heat with a time of 1:01.35 and McNulty clocked in at 1:01.37 to place third in her section.

In the 60 meter hurdles, Patterson qualified for the finals as she ran 9.47 seconds to finish first in her heat. She would place 15th overall after posting a time of 9.68 in the finals. Ellis also competed in the same event and ran 9.68 seconds.

Montclair was well-represented in the 200 meters as of the five competitors, three won their individual heats with the other two placing second and third. Powell led that group as she registered a time of 26.43 in winning her heat and finishing 28th overall. Patterson won her section with a time of 26.65 and Gearity made it two individual heat wins on the afternoon with a time of 26.65. They placed 35th and 36th, respectively. Campbell came in at 27.08 and Altilio rounded out the MSU runners with a time of 28.00.

Powell added another Top 30 placing as she ran 8.33 seconds in the 60 meters to finish 21st. Altilio recorded a time of 8.66 seconds.  Ellis finished 23rd in the 500 meters with a time of 1:20.00 and Janine Grillo (Bogota, NJ / Immaculate Conception) registered a time of 1:33.21. Ollo placed third in her section of the 800 meters (2:29.81) and Brittany Stradford (Trenton, NJ / Trenton Central) finished 28th in the 1000 meters (3:27.27). Michelle Armando Padavano (Rahway, NJ / Mother Seton) had a time of 12:01.26 in the 3000 meters.

In the field events, Ellis was 14th in the long jump as she posted a best leap of 4.90 meters (16-feet, 1-inch). Altilio was 21st in the triple jump with a distance of 9.92 meters (32-feet, 6.5-inches).

Montclair is back in action with a busy weekend. The Red Hawks are scheduled to compete in the New Balance Invitational at The Armory on Friday, February 4. The next day, MSU is at the DeSchriver Invitational at East Stroudsburg University.