Dave Sorensen, Men's Track and Field
Men's track and field senior quad-captain Dave Sorensen ran 4:12.43 in the mile at the Open New England Championship at BU this past weekend. The spectacular time was well within the NCAA provisional mark of 4:16 - in other words, Sorensen qualified for the NCAA Championships while shaving four seconds off of his personal record.
Sorensen's competition shouldn't be overlooked. The Open New England Championship is comprised of not only Div. III teams, but Divs. I and II as well. Sorensen's time only left him in 10th place overall in the mile. But what is truly impressive about Sorensen's performance was that he ran the first 800 meters of the race in approximately 2:08, and the second 800 in four seconds less, 2:04. In addition, Sorensen's qualifying time going into the meet put him in the unseeded section of the mile - among slower competition. Sorensen broke away from the pack in his heat on the seventh lap, and he won his section by roughly three seconds.
Sorensen's drive has had a profound influence on the team's success this season. He ran a 4:16.04 mile at last weekend's New England Div. III Championship en route to Tufts' first victory of the Championship since 1991. He also ran as the anchor leg of Tufts' A team in the men's distance medley relay, which went on to win that event and give the Jumbos a critical 10-point boost.
Distance medley Relay Team, Women's Track and Field
The women's track and field distance medley relay (DMR) team put together a dominant performance at the All New England Championships on Friday at BU, winning the event with a blistering time of 11:43.47. The relay team, comprised of freshman Stephanie McNamara, senior co-captains Kaleigh Fitzpatrick and Cat Beck and senior Katy O'Brien, defeated its next closest competitor, Div. I Providence College, by just under three seconds.
The time, which was run on a banked track, will almost certainly be good enough to qualify the DMR team for Nationals once it is converted with a banked-track penalty. The result marks the fastest Div. III time run this year and the third-fastest DMR time in Tufts history, behind last year's effort of 11:39:08, set at the same meet, and the team's second-place performance at the last year's NCAA Championships of 11:35.54. Last year's DMR squad, which set the New England DMR record, also included Fitzpatrick, Beck and O'Brien.
The previous fastest time in the nation this year was 11:44:20, set by the University of St. Thomas on Feb. 15.
On Saturday, McNamara shined in the mile as well, running the first sub-5:00 mile of her career and taking sixth in the event with a time of 4:58:67 to earn Tufts three points. Fitzpatrick also ran the 400 meters on Saturday, running 57.94 for ninth place.
