Teams: Women's Track & Field: Press Releases

Thursday, March 11, 2004

EIGHT AT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS FOR JUMBOS THIS WEEKEND

MEDFORD -- Eight members of three Tufts University winter sports teams are in middle America this weekend competing at NCAA Division III national championship events.

In the pool, seniors Mika Sumiyoshi (Fukuoka City, Japan) and Beth Wecksell (Great Neck, NY) are among the competitors at the 2004 NCAA Swimming & Diving championships hosted by Principia College in St. Peters, Missouri from Thursday through Saturday (Mar. 11-13). Sumiyoshi, the two-time New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) champion in the 200 and 400 individual medleys, will swim in the 200 IM trials and finals on Friday, the 400 IM trials and final on Saturday, and in the 200 breaststroke trials and finals on Sunday. She is ranked fourth entering the meet in the 200 with a best time of 2 minutes, 6.96 seconds during the season. Her 4:31.33 in the 400 IM this season is ranked third nationally entering the championship meet. Wecksell, who qualified for nationals as a sophomore in 2002, faces the 1-meter diving preliminaries and finals on Thursday, and then the 3-meter competition is started on Friday and finished Saturday.

The Tufts Track & Field teams combined to send six athletes to the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Friday and Saturday (Mar. 12-13).

Head Coach Kristen Morwick's women's team has four representatives. Senior tri-captain Jessica Trombly (Nashua, NH) will compete in three events total, making for a busy Firday. She has the preliminaries of the 55 meter hurdles on Friday at 6:20 pm, followed by the 400 meters preliminaries at 6:45 pm, and finally the 4x400 meter relay preliminaries at 8:10 pm. She will anchor the foursome that includes junior Emily Bersin (Orleans, MA), sophomore Rachel Bloom (Sharon, MA) and junior Sika Henry (Upper Montclair, NJ). On Saturday, pending the qualifying times, the finals of the 55 hurdles are at 4:35 pm, the 400 finals are at 4:55 and the 4x4 final is the last even of the meet at 6:20. The 4x4 enters the meet with the second-fastest time in the country for the event, a 3:53.62 that is four-tenths of a second behind Wartburg's fastest time. Trombly's best 400 time of 56.46 seconds is fourth-best entering the meet. Henry will also compete individually for Tufts in the High Jump, with both the preliminaries and finals on Friday starting at 2:30. She will be the first Jumbo in action at the meet.

For Head Coach Connie Putnam's men's team, freshman sensation Fred Jones (Northfield, MA) is entered in the Triple Jump, which has the preliminaries and finals on Saturday starting at 10:30 am. Junior Nate Brigham (Penacook, NH) will the run in the 5,000 meters final on Saturday at 5:45. Jones enters the meet ranked fourth nationally in the TJ with a best leap of 48 feet, 1/2 inch during the season. Brigham was the last of 12 to qualify in the 5,000 with his best time of 14:35.84 during the year.

Tufts has a chance to win national championships at each meet. Sumiyoshi is among the favorites in the 400 IM. Jones could continue his incredible freshman campaign by winning the Triple Jump. The Women's 4x4 has the best shot of all. Stay tuned!

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