Catherine Beck | Women's Track and Field
No record is safe from the sophomore, who took down not one, not two, but three school records this weekend, including an 18-year-old 5,000 meter record on Thursday at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, PA. Beck ran 16:51.04 for fourth place in the Olympic Development 5,000. Beck's time replaces Nancy Benson's record of 16:54.4, set in 1988. The time automatically qualifies Beck for Nationals.
Beck also won the 1,500 meters at the NESCAC Championships on Saturday at Bowdoin with a time of 4:35.4. Beck went into the final lap of the race trailing Williams sophomore Lissy Robie only to take off and beat Robie by six seconds. The time breaks Caitlin Murphy's school record of 4:35.8, although Murphy ran 4:32.2 indoors in 2000; but problems with the timing system meant that the 1,500 was hand-timed.
After already taking down two records, Beck joined the 4x800 meter relay team with juniors Kate Makai and Sarah Crispin and sophomore Katy O'Brien to break the school record in that event. The team ran 9:20.24, breaking a record of 9:21.2 set in 2000.
Beck agreed to run the event with the 2nd place in NESCAC on the line against Middlebury. Her leg of 2:17 helped the team win the event by nine seconds to score 10 points and come from behind to beat Middlebury by 4.5 points.
During the indoor season, Beck broke school records in the mile and the 5,000 and holds the second fastest time in the 3,000 meters.
Clem McNally | Men's Lacrosse
It's rare, but freshman Clem McNally earns Athlete of the Week honors for the second straight week. Following an impressive offensive showing against Bates last week in which he scored five goals, McNally showed he is no freshman fluke by scoring six goals in Sunday's first-round playoff victory, once again against Bates.
With the score tied 2-2 at the end of the first period, McNally helped lead one of the team's best offensive stretches this season, contributing three of Tufts' four goals in the second period. At the end of the third period Bates closed the gap to 7-7, but another offensive run in the fourth quarter, including five goals, with two from McNally, helped lead Tufts to a 13-8 victory.
McNally's only assist in the contest came in the fourth period when McNally found senior attacker Dane Carillo to break a 7-7 tie. McNally made a beautiful pass to Carillo from the top of the crease as the senior scored from the left side of the net, giving the Jumbos a brief lead. The goal would be part of a 6-1 run, including 5 straight goals to end the game, which would give the Jumbos the playoff victory.
Tufts stands at 11-5 and moves on to play at top seed Middlebury next Saturday in the semi-finals. The Jumbos lost their only match up against Middlebury this season 12-4. If McNally can offer up another offensive blitz, however, Tufts should be a contender for this year's Championship title.
