Division 3 Weekly Recap (Feb 11-12, 2011)
Division 3 Weekly Recap (Feb 11-12, 2011)
D3 Weekly Recap (Feb 11-12)
We are now less than one month away from indoor nationals, and this past weekend saw many squads putting their best foot forward in their attempt to hit those elusive qualifying marks.
The explosive action started off on Friday afternoon at the BU Valentine Invitational. The men’s DMR set the tone for the rest of the weekend, as Amherst dominated the entire field with a D3 record 9:49.11, with approximate splits of 3:01, 50, 1:49, and 4:08. This eclipses the previous top time of 9:53.16 from MIT’s 2002 squad. However, MIT did not let their record break quietly, as they too dipped under the old record with their 9:52.13, anchored by a 4:05 from sophomore Kyle Hannon. The rest of the field also had four more D3 squads hit qualifying times, with Allegheny hitting the automatic mark.
The action at BU then moved to the women’s events. The 800 featured three D3 runners dipping under 2:13—all in separate heats—led by Wellesley’s Leah Clement in the auto-qualifying time of 2:12.18. Wellesley’s success continued into the mile, where Randelle Boots improved on her previous sub-5 performance by running the first automatic mile qualifier of the season with her clocking of 4:53.18. Following closely behind were Melissa Sullivan of Amherst and Robin England of Rutgers-Camden, both going well under the five-minute mark. The 5k continued the streak of automatic qualifiers, with Joanna Johnson of Oberlin running 17:02.28, and the second heat of the 5k saw four more D3 women get under 17:30. The women’s races continued into Saturday with the DMR, which yielded four of the top five times of the season. Middlebury led the charge in 11:58.14, the only sub-12 clocking of the season thus far, with Wellesley not too far behind.
The men then returned to center stage, where Amherst seemingly did not miss a beat in returning to their winning ways. Ben Scheetz, who split 1:49-low the day before, returned as the top collegiate in the 400 with a time of 47.47, tying him for fifth on the all-time indoor D3 lists. The 400 also saw two more automatic marks as well as five provisional times. The 800 provided a brief respite from the slew of automatic qualifiers, though Patrick Marx of MIT ran 1:52.49, missing the auto mark by a scant .29 seconds. However, the BU track did not lose its magic in the mile—four men hit automatic qualifiers on this track two weeks prior—as an additional three men hit automatic marks this weekend. Matt Turlip of NYU posted the fastest time on the day, stopping the clock at 4:06.65, but Tony Dipre of Allegheny and Steven Corsello of Amherst—who split 3:01 the previous day—weren’t far behind. Though the 3k is not a nationally contested event, the men’s race produced stellar times, most notably from the D3 leader in the 5k, Mike Heymann of SUNY Plattsburgh, who ran 8:17.54. Not far behind was Andrew Zitek of NYU in 8:20.82, and there were an additional five D3 runners under 8:35. In the 5k, Michael Schmidt of Middlebury posted the day’s fastest D3 time of 14:29.47. Four other D3 runners hit provisional marks, including the anchor leg of Amerst’s record setting DMR, Will Yochum, who ran 14:38.26. Amherst’s success continued into the 4x400, where they won their heat in a provisional mark of 3:17.64. However, the fastest D3 time on the day came from Cortland State’s squad, which clocked in at 3:16.88.
Although the Northeast stole the show this past weekend, there were other top times all across the country, highlighted by a pair of 800 meter runners posting division-leading times against top D1 athletes. On the women’s side, Keelie Finnel of Coe, who ran the 400 last year at both indoor and outdoor nationals, ran the 800 at the Tyson Invitational. After blistering to a time of 2:10.12, she might want to consider a permanent switch. On the men’s side, Emmanual Bofa showed why his name is always in the short list of 800 meter contenders with his 1:50.27 clocking at the UW Husky Classic.
The only other major action occurred at the UW-Platteville Invitational, which saw three provisional marks in both the men’s and women’s 800, highlighted by UW-Stevens Point’s David Litsheim in 1:52.84 and UW-Platteville’s Ann Tank in 2:13.8, both just missing the automatic qualifier. The meet also had three provisional marks in the men’s 5000, where Thomas Breitbach of UW-Eau Claire defeated David Spandorfer of Wash. U and Jason Garvens of UW-Platteville in a time of 14:35.77.
Other results of note were automatic qualifiers in the 800 from St. Norbert’s Emily Schudrowitz in 2:10.00 (although technically the fastest D3 time, she is second on the list due to the conversion) and St. Thomas’s Mike Hutton in 1:51.24. Also, a shout-out should be given to Elliot Bulling of Nebreska Wesleyan, who cracked the top 10 all-time list in the indoor shot put with his throw of 17.78 meters and to Holly Ozanich of UW-Oshkosh, who moves up to third all-time in the weight throw with her toss of 20.03 meters. Also, it almost goes without saying, but the Wartburg women continued their domination of the 4x400, bettering their division-leading time with a 3:47.03 clocking, making them the fourth fastest D3 squad of all-time. For those counting, Wartburg now holds four of the twelve qualifying marks in the 4x400, including the top two.
Looking forward to next weekend, the New Englanders will shift the focus from fast times to competition, as their regional meet should feature some top-notch runners vying for valuable points. However, most of the rest of the division still has one more week to chase times before the league and regional contests begin. Top meets will include the NYU Team Challenge, with a special guest appearance from Haverford, the Cardinal Classic hosted by North Central, and the Eastbay/Pointer Invitational, featuring all the Wisconsin schools.
We are now less than one month away from indoor nationals, and this past weekend saw many squads putting their best foot forward in their attempt to hit those elusive qualifying marks.
The explosive action started off on Friday afternoon at the BU Valentine Invitational. The men’s DMR set the tone for the rest of the weekend, as Amherst dominated the entire field with a D3 record 9:49.11, with approximate splits of 3:01, 50, 1:49, and 4:08. This eclipses the previous top time of 9:53.16 from MIT’s 2002 squad. However, MIT did not let their record break quietly, as they too dipped under the old record with their 9:52.13, anchored by a 4:05 from sophomore Kyle Hannon. The rest of the field also had four more D3 squads hit qualifying times, with Allegheny hitting the automatic mark.
The action at BU then moved to the women’s events. The 800 featured three D3 runners dipping under 2:13—all in separate heats—led by Wellesley’s Leah Clement in the auto-qualifying time of 2:12.18. Wellesley’s success continued into the mile, where Randelle Boots improved on her previous sub-5 performance by running the first automatic mile qualifier of the season with her clocking of 4:53.18. Following closely behind were Melissa Sullivan of Amherst and Robin England of Rutgers-Camden, both going well under the five-minute mark. The 5k continued the streak of automatic qualifiers, with Joanna Johnson of Oberlin running 17:02.28, and the second heat of the 5k saw four more D3 women get under 17:30. The women’s races continued into Saturday with the DMR, which yielded four of the top five times of the season. Middlebury led the charge in 11:58.14, the only sub-12 clocking of the season thus far, with Wellesley not too far behind.
The men then returned to center stage, where Amherst seemingly did not miss a beat in returning to their winning ways. Ben Scheetz, who split 1:49-low the day before, returned as the top collegiate in the 400 with a time of 47.47, tying him for fifth on the all-time indoor D3 lists. The 400 also saw two more automatic marks as well as five provisional times. The 800 provided a brief respite from the slew of automatic qualifiers, though Patrick Marx of MIT ran 1:52.49, missing the auto mark by a scant .29 seconds. However, the BU track did not lose its magic in the mile—four men hit automatic qualifiers on this track two weeks prior—as an additional three men hit automatic marks this weekend. Matt Turlip of NYU posted the fastest time on the day, stopping the clock at 4:06.65, but Tony Dipre of Allegheny and Steven Corsello of Amherst—who split 3:01 the previous day—weren’t far behind. Though the 3k is not a nationally contested event, the men’s race produced stellar times, most notably from the D3 leader in the 5k, Mike Heymann of SUNY Plattsburgh, who ran 8:17.54. Not far behind was Andrew Zitek of NYU in 8:20.82, and there were an additional five D3 runners under 8:35. In the 5k, Michael Schmidt of Middlebury posted the day’s fastest D3 time of 14:29.47. Four other D3 runners hit provisional marks, including the anchor leg of Amerst’s record setting DMR, Will Yochum, who ran 14:38.26. Amherst’s success continued into the 4x400, where they won their heat in a provisional mark of 3:17.64. However, the fastest D3 time on the day came from Cortland State’s squad, which clocked in at 3:16.88.
Although the Northeast stole the show this past weekend, there were other top times all across the country, highlighted by a pair of 800 meter runners posting division-leading times against top D1 athletes. On the women’s side, Keelie Finnel of Coe, who ran the 400 last year at both indoor and outdoor nationals, ran the 800 at the Tyson Invitational. After blistering to a time of 2:10.12, she might want to consider a permanent switch. On the men’s side, Emmanual Bofa showed why his name is always in the short list of 800 meter contenders with his 1:50.27 clocking at the UW Husky Classic.
The only other major action occurred at the UW-Platteville Invitational, which saw three provisional marks in both the men’s and women’s 800, highlighted by UW-Stevens Point’s David Litsheim in 1:52.84 and UW-Platteville’s Ann Tank in 2:13.8, both just missing the automatic qualifier. The meet also had three provisional marks in the men’s 5000, where Thomas Breitbach of UW-Eau Claire defeated David Spandorfer of Wash. U and Jason Garvens of UW-Platteville in a time of 14:35.77.
Other results of note were automatic qualifiers in the 800 from St. Norbert’s Emily Schudrowitz in 2:10.00 (although technically the fastest D3 time, she is second on the list due to the conversion) and St. Thomas’s Mike Hutton in 1:51.24. Also, a shout-out should be given to Elliot Bulling of Nebreska Wesleyan, who cracked the top 10 all-time list in the indoor shot put with his throw of 17.78 meters and to Holly Ozanich of UW-Oshkosh, who moves up to third all-time in the weight throw with her toss of 20.03 meters. Also, it almost goes without saying, but the Wartburg women continued their domination of the 4x400, bettering their division-leading time with a 3:47.03 clocking, making them the fourth fastest D3 squad of all-time. For those counting, Wartburg now holds four of the twelve qualifying marks in the 4x400, including the top two.
Looking forward to next weekend, the New Englanders will shift the focus from fast times to competition, as their regional meet should feature some top-notch runners vying for valuable points. However, most of the rest of the division still has one more week to chase times before the league and regional contests begin. Top meets will include the NYU Team Challenge, with a special guest appearance from Haverford, the Cardinal Classic hosted by North Central, and the Eastbay/Pointer Invitational, featuring all the Wisconsin schools.