LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The Bellarmine University men's and women's track and field teams opened their 2010 outdoor season at the Hanover Invitational on Saturday, with the women taking top honors and the men finishing fourth of 10 teams.

Bellarmine Coach Jim Vargo said highlights for the meet included outstanding performances by Bellarmine in the women's hammer throw, the men's 4x100 meter relay team, and men's and women's hurdles.

Freshman Nora Bowe finished in sixth place in the 100 meter hurdles. Her time of 17.35 set a new freshman and school record. On the men's side Seth Sigler set a new freshman record with his time of 15.40, earning him a second place finish in the event. 

Gretchen Lussi set two new freshman outdoor marks in the long jump and triple jump. Her leap of 4.95 meters in the long jump won that event, and her triple jump of 10.4 meters earned her second place. Wes Fahrenbacher set a new freshman record in the hammer throw with a distance of 40.47 meters.

In the women's hammer, Julia Zalewski and Alicia Duplika finished 1-2 with heaves of 41.26 and 39.44 meters. Zalewski's throw was just under the school record.

The men's 4x100 relay team took top honors at the meet with a time of 43.19 seconds--more than a second and a quarter faster than the second place team.  Vargo said the team was competing without William Saucer, probably Bellarmine top sprinter.

 Vargo added that many of Bellarmine's top athletes did not compete. "We treated this as a tune-up meet," he said. "We sent our athletes who either didn't compete in indoor or didn't get a lot of experience in the indoor season."

One of those athletes was Betsy Goodin, who also competes on the Knights basketball team and just joined the track team two weeks ago.  The Lexington native had a successful debut, finishing second in the 400 meters (teammate Kate Mastronicola won) and anchoring the 4x400 relay team.

Bellarmine will split squads next weekend, sending athletes to meets at the University of Cincinnati and Centre College.

Complete Meet Results

Team Scores