Teams: Women's Track & Field: Schedule & Results

FIVE JUMBOS EARN ALL-AMERICA HONORS AT TRACK NATIONALS

COLLEGE WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD RESULTS
NCAA Division III Indoor Championships
At Shirk Center (Bloomington, IL)
Friday-Saturday, March 11-12, 2005

Championship Results

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Nine members of the Tufts University women's indoor track & field team traveled to Illinois Wesleyan University this past weekend to take part in the 2005 NCAA Division III Championships. Highlighted by a good 4x400 meter relay performance, the Tufts women finished 40th overall with a total of four points and earned five All-America honors.

The Jumbos' best finish came in the 4x4, where the foursome of senior Claudia Clarke (Lynn, MA), junior Rachel Bloom (Sharon, MA), freshman Kaleigh Fitzpatrick (Lynnfield, MA), and sophomore Jillian Warner (Long Valley, NJ) finished the race in 3 minutes, 58.76 seconds for an All-American sixth place finish in the final field of eight. The final three spots were up for grabs as less than half a second separated the sixth through eighth place finishers, with Tufts finishing just 0.16 of a second ahead of seventh place Wartburg. Tufts had qualified for the final with a 3:57.42 in the preliminaries on Friday. They scored three points for Tufts with their sixth place in the final.

Scoring one point for the Jumbos was sophomore Sarah Crispin (Auburn, ME), the Jumbos' sole individual finisher at the meet. Crispin was seeded 12th in the 800 meter run, but improved on her seed by finishing eighth with an All-American time of 2:21.39. She ran a 2:15.46 in the faster of two preliminary heats on Friday to qualify for the final. Freshman Catherine Beck (Brookline, NH) qualified in the 5000 meter run, but did not compete in the race due to illness.

Tufts' Distance Medley Relay team of Katy O'Brien (North Easton, MA), Bloom, Katie Sheedy (Reading, MA) and Laura Walls (Clarksville, MD) competed at the national championships as well, going up against a very competitive field. The Jumbos finished 10th in the event, running to a time of 12:20.47.

Tufts head coach Kristen Morwick was recognized as the NCAA New England Coach of the Year at the meet.

Wisconsin-Oshkosh amassed 36 points to claim the team title, besting Wartburg with 32 points and Amherst with 26.

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