The women's track team will once again hit the road this weekend, this time journeying just across the Charles River for the All-New England Championships, a meet where Div. I, II and III competition duke it out to determine the best team in the region.
The goal on Friday and Saturday is to qualify runners for the NCAA National Championship meet on March 11 and 12 at Illinois-Wesleyan, which shifts some of the team-oriented focus that the Jumbos had during most of the season.
"We're going for season-best marks and NCAA qualifiers and obviously at this point, our goals are individual and not team," coach Kristen Morwick said.
"The competition will be pretty crazy in most events, so there is no reason why we shouldn't have some great performances from our team," senior tri-captain Katie Sheedy said. "We can definitely hold our own among the Div. I and II schools that compete at this meet."
Sophomore Jillian Warner will run the 400-meters and the 4x400 relay. She has only competed in the open 400 twice this year, at Tufts Invitationals I and II, running 1:00.23 and 1:00.95, respectively. However, she ran roughly 59.0 as the anchor leg of the 4x400 relay at the St. Valentine's Invitational on Feb. 12. To qualify for Nationals, she will need to trim that to at least a 58.6, the provisional qualifying time.
Warner will join senior Claudia Clarke, junior Rachel Bloom, and freshman Kaleigh Fitzpatrick in the 4x400 relay. The relay last ran together at the St. Valentine's Invitational, when they ran a 4:00.60, narrowly missing the provisional qualifying time of 4:00.20. Clarke will also run in the 500-meter race, a race she has not run since the Husky Invitational on Dec. 4, despite running a mix of 400s, 600s and 800s all season.
In middle distance, sophomore Sarah Crispin hopes to bounce back from health problems which have plagued her most of this season. She has come a long way, though, from not finishing the 1,500-meter run at the Tufts Invitational III on Feb. 5 to her 3:00.44 performance last week in the 1,000-meter run at the New England Division III Championships.
Crispin is now within striking distance of a qualifying time of 2:17.70 in the 800 for Nationals this weekend.
Meanwhile, freshman Anna Shih will run the 1,000, in which her season-best is 3:05.89, run at Tufts Invitational I on Jan. 15.
The Jumbos should shine in the 5,000, where sophomore Raquel Morgan has already qualified provisionally for Nationals with her 17:52.16 performance last week at Div. III's.
Freshman Catherine Beck came within a few seconds of hitting the provisional standard of 17:52.50 when she ran a 17:54.08 at the St. Valentine's Invite. Both girls are looking not only to hit the standard, but also to clear the bar by a few seconds, giving themselves some breathing room in a competitive field.
"Beck was close last time, but I think if she and [Morgan] can get in a good racing situation and work together, they should do great," Sheedy said.
Besides the 4x400 relay, the Distance Medley Relay will also look to improve its time on Saturday. The relay team of freshmen Katy O'Brien (1,200 leg) and Laura Walls (1,500), junior Rachel Bloom (400) , and senior Katie Sheedy (800) qualified provisionally for Nationals by running a 12:09.99 at the St. Valentine's Invite. They hope to improve upon the time, shooting for close to 12:00 to ensure a spot at Nationals.
"We're expecting a lot of teams to start qualifying for that event this weekend, so even though we have a good position on the Nationals list, we want to make sure that we'll go," Sheedy said. "So we need to run faster."
Likewise, the 4x800 relay team, which broke the school record last weekend at Div. IIIs with a 9:29.07, will look to improve upon that time. O'Brien, Walls, Sheedy, Shih and sophomore Kate Makai will make up Saturday's team.
Freshman Jenna Weir will compete in both the long and the triple jumps while sophomore Sade Campbell high jumps. Weir will need marks of 5.73 meters in the long and 11.90 in the triple to qualify for Nationals. Her best marks this season were 5.15 in the long jump at Div. IIIs and 10.88 in the triple at the Tufts Stampede on Feb. 12. Campbell, whose best height this season came last weekend with a mark of 1.57 meters, will need a 1.71 to move on to Nationals.
Sophomore MacKenzie Rawcliffe will run the 55 hurdles, where her best this season came last weekend at Div. III's with a 8.91. She will need 8.60 to qualify provisionally for nationals.
