April 23, 2007

DAYTON, Ohio - The University of Dayton honored five track and field stand-outs at its annual awards banquet on Sunday. The award ceremony, held at Time Warner Flight Deck in the University of Dayton Arena, recognized Kate Tejkl, Lauren McCormick, Amy Kremer, Liz Forster, and Candace McKinley for their achievements during the indoor and outdoor seasons both on and off the track.

Freshmen Kate Tejkl and Lauren McCormick shared Rookie of the Year honors. Tejkl has been a strong performer for UD as she leads the Flyers with the fastest 800 meter time of 2:20.50. She placed fifth in the 800 meter at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships making her one of the first distance runners to score in the meet in several years. Although the freshman Flyer has been fighting off injury throughout the outdoor season, this past weekend at the All-Ohio Championships, she ran the 1500 meter in 4:48.45 and the 800 meter run in 2:20.61 for the fastest Flyer times of the season in those events.

McCormick who shares the rookie honors with Tejkl, owns the four fastest 55 meter dash times, two fastest 60 meter dash times, and fastest 200 meter dash time for the Flyers this year. At the Indoor A-10 Championships, she placed fourth in the 55 meter dash and seventh in the 200 meter dash. She is a member of the new school record holding 4 x 100 meter relay which is currently ranked third in the A-10. McComrick is currently ranked in the conference at seventh in the 100 meter and eighth in the 200 meter. In addition, she was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week during the week of January 29 for her strong performances at the Findlay Track and Field Classic.

The White Allen MVP for field events was awarded to sophomore Amy Kremer. Kremer bettered her school record (5-08.00) in the indoor high jump in the first meet of the season. She finished second in the same event at the Atlantic 10 Championships. In the throws, she sits at the seventh spot in the shot put and the tenth spot in the javelin in the A-10 outdoor standings. Kremer also currently leads the conference in the heptathlon and is fourth in the high jump.

Senior Liz Forster was named the White Allen MVP for running events. At the indoor A-10 Championships she placed sixth in the 500 meter and broke the existing school record in the same event at the New Balance Games. Forster was a member of the 4x400 relay team that placed eighth at the A-10 Championships. Her 400 meter dash time of 57.65 ranks her eighth in the A-10. In addition, she's a member of the No. 5 A-10 ranked 4x400 meter relay team and No. 3 A-10 ranked 4x100 relay team that recorded a new school record on April 21.

Senior Candace McKinley rounded out the awards for Dayton as she was named this year's "Fighting Flyer." The award is voted on by the team and is given to an individual that the team feels best represents the program. "The recipient of the "Fighting Flyer" award this year goes to a leader who is hard-working, encouraging, positive; someone who is dedicated and has more heart than anyone I've ever coached," says head track and field coach Kandice Erwin of McKinley.

McKinley sits atop the UD indoor long jump list with her season best leap of 17-04.75 at the Ball State Open in December. She is currently ranked No. 4 in the conference in the javelin.

The Flyers will return to action on Saturday, April 28 as the team will head to Indianapolis, Indian for the Stan Lyons Invitational.