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

DMR IS NATIONAL RUNNER-UP, BECK ALL-AMERICAN AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

COLLEGE WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD RESULTS
NCAA Division III Championships
Friday-Saturday, March 9-10, 2007
At Terre Haute, IN

Final Results

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- In an exciting two-team race, the Tufts University foursome of senior tri-captain Sarah Crispin (Auburn, ME), junior Kaleigh Fitzpatrick (Lynnfield, MA), junior Katy O'Brien (North Easton, MA) and junior Cat Beck (Brookline, NH) ran second in the distance medley relay (DMR) at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday night.

Competing at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the Tufts team posted a school-record time of 11 minutes, 35.54 seconds. However, the Jumbos were defeated by a little more than a second by a Wisconsin-Platteville time that put down an 11:34.46 time. The two teams blew away the rest of the field, as third-place Amherst came in nearly 10 seconds later at 11:44.91.  The runner-up finish earns All-American honors for all four competitors.

The DMR time of 11:35.54 was better than the previous NCAA record, set by Wartburg in 2005 (11:41.66). It's also a school record. The splits were Crispin 3:32.4 (1200), Fitzpatrick 58.5 (400), O'Brien 2:16.6 (800) and Beck 4:47.0 (1600m). That is Beck's fastest 1600m by over 4 seconds, and she split the fastest anchor leg of anyone at Nationals.

Less than 24 hours later, Beck raced to a fifth place finish in the 5,000 meters on Saturday afternoon. Her time of 16 minutes, 57.37 seconds was Beck's second All-American achievement in as many days.

With the 12 points scored for second place by the DMR and fifth place by Beck in the 5K, Tufts tied for 14th at the meet with Wartburg College. NESCAC rival Williams College won the 2007 national title with 42 points.

Entering the Nationals, Wisconsin-Platteville and Tufts were the only two teams in the nation to hit the DMR automatic qualifying time of 11 minutes, 53.60 seconds. The Jumbos ran an 11:39.08 on the banked track at Boston University during the Open New England Championships on February 23. That time converted to an 11:41.48, which second only to Wisconsin Platteville's 11:40.45 during the season. Tufts' 11:35.54 at the NCAA meet erased their earlier time from the Tufts record book.

Beck was the top seed entering the NCAA 5K race. Her converted time of 16 minutes, 45.53 seconds (16:42.23), ran at the Terrier Invitational hosted by Boston University on January 26, was the fastest of the season and a new school record. She fell short of matching that time, but still posted the best NCAA indoor performance of her career. Wesleyan University's Ellen Davis won the race with a 16:43.73 time.

All four Jumbos who traveled to the meet came home with All-American honors. Beck, who was the national runner-up in the 1,500 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring, now has three in her career, Crispin two, Fitzpatrick two and it was O'Brien's first.

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