Nationals not as fruitful for women's track

A contingent of the women's track and field team comprised of four Jumbos made the trip to the NCAA Div. III Indoor Championships on Mar 14-15. While the athletes took part in the qualifying rounds on Friday, none was unable to advance to the final heats on Saturday.

Though extenuating circumstances prevented the Jumbos from making their mark in the finals, the fact that only half of those competing had had experience in the Nationals arena was also a contributing factor. Juniors Jessica Trombly and Emily Bersin had both competed in Nationals before, Bersin just once during her freshman year in the 4x400 meter relay. For sophomore Sika Henry and freshman Rachel Bloom, the journey to DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana was their first foray into competition on a national level.

The four teamed to compete in an ill-fated 4x400m relay race. Even though the squad ran a season best of 3:55.68 in the second heat, it wasn't enough to make the finals. Within the heat, Henry led off against three All-Americans in the 400, and the fastest team in the heat -- Wheaton College -- also emerged as the winners in the finals.

In the end, the squad ended up two tenths of a second off the qualifying time necessary to move on to the finals, and finished just 0.07 seconds off the school record.

"We don't have some of the pure sprinting power some of the teams had, but we have fitness and endurance and would have been able to bounce back better in the finals better than others did," coach Kristen Morwick said. "It was tough missing the finals by so little, but they should be satisfied with having made it so far this year and having had such a great season."

Trombly also took part in the open 400, an event she had excelled in throughout the season. However, the lack of true competition she had throughout the season seemed to have an effect on her once she came to compete at Nationals. The race was a messy one and Trombly did not get the results she was hoping for.

In the opening portion of the race Trombly was pushed out by junior Sheri Kelleher of Hartwick College and subsequently boxed in at a pivotal point. At one point Trombly came to a dead stop and made a move to lane three in attempt to make up for a frustrating start. However the move wasn't enough as she ended up missing out on the finals heat by about seven hundredths of a second.

"She's never had to race anyone that good, she's usually out in the lead at the get-go. Having had no real competition she's never had an opportunity to run against faster people to prepare her for a Nationals experience," Morwick said. "She had to make four different moves in a race where you can only really make one. It's one of those things that just happens sometimes."

Following this last competition of the indoor season, the four joined the rest of the team on a trek to South Carolina for a spring break training trip. Housed at Coastal Carolina University, the squad also competed in an invitational meet hosted at the school. The break gave the team a chance to come together after an indoor post-season apart and gave a preemptive start to the outdoor season.

The invitational resulted in some outstanding and promising performances by a variety of Jumbos taking advantage of the Carolina sun. While the days leading up to the meet were somewhat downcast and cool, the day of the meet brought out an almost unbearably hot weather. The heat made it tougher for the long distance runners who had to compete in lengthy races in a beating sun.

"It was a great trip, with the meet being the nicest day which made it rough for distance runners but provided pretty decent conditions for sprinters and jumpers," senior tri-captain Lauren Tormey said. "We got in a lot of good training and had fun. It helped people get to know each other, and it was nice to get some training in some warm weather we won't likely be running in again any time soon."

Amongst two school records that were broken on the trip was in the steeplechase race. Going into the event, senior Mary Nodine possessed the record, but in the course of the day both she and senior Danielle Perrin broke that record. Nodine finished the race in about 11:40, while Perrin did so in 11:38 to claim a new school record. Freshman Elyse Archila also took part in the steeplechase, finishing in about 12:39.

The throwers also made their mark in South Carolina, with a number of Jumbos breaking the school record in the hammer throw. Set at a mark of 120', the record was shattered by junior co-captain Jessica Gauthier, who launched the hammer 132'. Sophomores Katie Antle and Jessica Colby also threw past the prior hammer mark with their throws of 125' and 124', respectively.

As a member of the women's basketball team, junior Kate Gluckman was absent from the indoor roster, but has made an impression with her outdoor abilities. In the discus, Gluckman made the finals with a toss of about 117'. The fact that the throwers competed with such positive results is all the more promising given that they worked out four times a day over break and had a fatiguing week.

Other events that produced favorable results were the 200 and 400, with multiple Jumbos putting forth their best foot as the outdoor season gets under way. The short outdoor season will commence this weekend with the Husky Invite at Northeastern University. Owing to the performances churned out in South Carolina, many Jumbos have qualified through Div III standards, putting them in good standing for the start of the season.

"It was a good trip considering the weather and we had some really good performances. We have a bunch of people who made the Div. III qualifying marks which is great for this point in the season," Morwick said.