Teams: Women's Track & Field: Press Releases

Monday, February 28, 2005

RELAY TEAMS BREAK RECORDS AT ALL-NEW ENGLAND MEET

BOSTON -- The Tufts University women's indoor track & field team placed ninth at the all-division New England championships hosted by Boston University over the weekend. Tufts scored 20 points at the meet to take second among Division III squads.

The distance medley relay and the 4x800 foursome broke school records to lead the charge. The DMR group of freshman Katy O'Brien (North Easton, MA/Oliver Ames), sophomore Rachel Bloom (Sharon, MA/Sharon), junior Katie Sheedy (Reading, MA/Reading) and freshman Laura Walls (Clarksville, MD/Glenelg Country School) exceeded expectations with a time of 11 minutes, 59.80 seconds that broke the Tufts mark previously set in 2000 at the NCAA championship meet. They finished third at the meet, beating teams from Rhode Island, Boston University and UConn, and provisionally qualified for Nationals.

The 4x8 of freshman Kate Makai (Brookfield, CT/Brookfield), Sheedy, O'Brien and Walls broke the school record for the third time this season. Their time of 9:15.17 for fourth place broke the previous Tufts standard by 14 seconds. The 4x4 ran 3:55.28, the second fastest time in school history to place sixth in the meet from the slow heat. The foursome of Claudi Clarke (Lynn, MA/Lynn), Jillian Warner (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central), Kaleigh Fitzpatrick (Lynnfield, MA/Lynnfield) and Bloom are now ranked sixth nationally with that time.

Warner added to her strong relay effort with a time of 58.35 seconds in the 400 to take eighth place and post a national provisional mark. Freshman Cat Beck (Brookline, NH/Hollis-Brookline) ran a great race in the 5,000, timing 17:39.57 to score seventh at the meet. The time is also a provisionally qualifier for the NCAA meet. In the 800, sophomore sophomore Sarah Crispin (Auburn, ME/Edward Little) finished sixth in the final in 2:15.80, a provisional mark that puts her 8th on the national list.

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