Division 3 Weekly Recap (Feb 18-19, 2011)
Division 3 Weekly Recap (Feb 18-19, 2011)
D3 Weekly Recap (Feb. 18-19)
In preparation for the rigors of next weekend’s championships—the WIAC, CCIW, and UAA meets, to name a few— lots of the division’s big names took this weekend off or raced an event out of the ordinary. Understandably, this led to fewer big time performances than in previous weeks, but some athletes still found a way to impress. Here’s a quick run-down of the performances of note:
North Central’s Cardinal Classic saw some stellar performances across the board, with the top-ranked North Central men and ninth-ranked women dominating the competition. In the 400, three women hit the provisional qualifier. Ann Tank of UW-Platteville, already with a 2:13.28 to her name this season, showed her speed with a time of 57.50. However, she came up short as North Central’s Sheila Walsh crossed the line in the second-fastest time in the division thus far, stopping the clock at 56.86. Liz Phillips of Washington University turned in the only exceptional women’s distance performance, getting the win and a provisional qualifier in the mile in 4:56.57. The premier event of the meet, the men’s 3k, featured a rematch of two Cardinals who were last year’s champion and runner-up in the 10k, Kyle Brady and Mike Spain. This time, however, North Central senior Mike Spain held off alumni and multiple time champion Kyle Brady in a time of 8:28.64.
At the NYU Team Challenge, both Haverford and NYU put together sub-10 minute performances in the DMR on the notoriously fast Armory track. Haverford got the win but missed the automatic qualifier by a scant one-hundredth of a second in 9:56.01. Maeve Evans of NYU also came up less than a second shy of an automatic qualifier in the mile with her time of 4:55.02.
The DMR successes continued at the non-scoring Eastbay/Pointer Invitational, where, on the women’s side, the hosts from UW- Stevens Point stopped the clock at a division-leading 11:53.88 to get the victory. However, runner-up UW-Oshkosh won’t be too disheartened, since they turned in the second-fastest time of the season in 11:56.65. In the men’s DMR, UW-Whitewater triumphed over both UW-Oshkosh and the 10-minute barrier, though they just missed the automatic mark (for a flat track) with their time of 9:59.72.
As a preview for what it is still to come for most schools, New England had their regional championships this past weekend. On the men’s side, all of the distance races became slow-starting, tactical affairs, with no provisional marks in the mile or 5k. However, John McGrail of Amherst still turned in an exceptional 3k performance, breaking away from 14:29 5k runner Michael Schmidt of Middlebury in the last 400 meters to run 8:29.54, splitting close to 2:40 for his last 1000. Despite McGrail’s success, third-ranked Amherst tumbled to seventh at the regional meet after holding out a few of their top performers. Fourteenth ranked MIT took home the title.
The New England women, on the other hand, wasted no time in their races on host MIT’s flat track. Margo Cramer of Middlebury ran 4:54.38, only the second automatic qualifier in the women’s mile this season, to defeat Keene State’s Amy Knoblock, who clocked in at 4:56.17. In the 5k, three women from Williams College all run under 18 minutes and went 1-2-3, with freshman Chiara Del Piccolo leading them across the line in 17:22.65. Williams needed all of those points, too, as their fourth-ranked squad won the team battle over third-ranked MIT by a mere four points.
The NJAC also had their championships last weekend, which saw the men and women from TCNJ continuing their winning ways. Outdoor All-American in the 800 Meryl Wimberly propelled the TCNJ women to their fourteenth consecutive title with an automatic qualifying 2:11.74, placing her third on the divisional performance list. The only other top-notch distance performance came from Robin England of Rutgers-Camden—already the owner of a strong provisional mark in the 5k—who ran 10:01.86 to win the 3k.
A few other scattered performances of note include a 4:12.44 mile from cross country runner-up Ben Sathre of St. Thomas at the Snowshoe Open as well as a pair of 400 meter times for division-leaders stepping down in distance. Miler Patrick Klein of UW-Platteville honed his wheels for nationals with a 52.82 mark, and 800 meter runner Keelie Finnel of Coe hit the provisional qualifier in the 400 in 57.88.
Unfortunately, there are no special shout-outs this week, since as far as I know, no one cracked the top 10 all-time lists in any of the nationally contested events. There were lots of close calls, though, so hopefully there will be many more to report on next week.
Speaking of next week, we should expect to see a lot more top distance performances at the various championship meets. There will be tons of great competition at the previously mentioned WIAC, CCIW, and UAA meets, as well as at the NEICAAA meet at the BU track, already the producer of tons of automatic distance qualifiers.
In preparation for the rigors of next weekend’s championships—the WIAC, CCIW, and UAA meets, to name a few— lots of the division’s big names took this weekend off or raced an event out of the ordinary. Understandably, this led to fewer big time performances than in previous weeks, but some athletes still found a way to impress. Here’s a quick run-down of the performances of note:
North Central’s Cardinal Classic saw some stellar performances across the board, with the top-ranked North Central men and ninth-ranked women dominating the competition. In the 400, three women hit the provisional qualifier. Ann Tank of UW-Platteville, already with a 2:13.28 to her name this season, showed her speed with a time of 57.50. However, she came up short as North Central’s Sheila Walsh crossed the line in the second-fastest time in the division thus far, stopping the clock at 56.86. Liz Phillips of Washington University turned in the only exceptional women’s distance performance, getting the win and a provisional qualifier in the mile in 4:56.57. The premier event of the meet, the men’s 3k, featured a rematch of two Cardinals who were last year’s champion and runner-up in the 10k, Kyle Brady and Mike Spain. This time, however, North Central senior Mike Spain held off alumni and multiple time champion Kyle Brady in a time of 8:28.64.
At the NYU Team Challenge, both Haverford and NYU put together sub-10 minute performances in the DMR on the notoriously fast Armory track. Haverford got the win but missed the automatic qualifier by a scant one-hundredth of a second in 9:56.01. Maeve Evans of NYU also came up less than a second shy of an automatic qualifier in the mile with her time of 4:55.02.
The DMR successes continued at the non-scoring Eastbay/Pointer Invitational, where, on the women’s side, the hosts from UW- Stevens Point stopped the clock at a division-leading 11:53.88 to get the victory. However, runner-up UW-Oshkosh won’t be too disheartened, since they turned in the second-fastest time of the season in 11:56.65. In the men’s DMR, UW-Whitewater triumphed over both UW-Oshkosh and the 10-minute barrier, though they just missed the automatic mark (for a flat track) with their time of 9:59.72.
As a preview for what it is still to come for most schools, New England had their regional championships this past weekend. On the men’s side, all of the distance races became slow-starting, tactical affairs, with no provisional marks in the mile or 5k. However, John McGrail of Amherst still turned in an exceptional 3k performance, breaking away from 14:29 5k runner Michael Schmidt of Middlebury in the last 400 meters to run 8:29.54, splitting close to 2:40 for his last 1000. Despite McGrail’s success, third-ranked Amherst tumbled to seventh at the regional meet after holding out a few of their top performers. Fourteenth ranked MIT took home the title.
The New England women, on the other hand, wasted no time in their races on host MIT’s flat track. Margo Cramer of Middlebury ran 4:54.38, only the second automatic qualifier in the women’s mile this season, to defeat Keene State’s Amy Knoblock, who clocked in at 4:56.17. In the 5k, three women from Williams College all run under 18 minutes and went 1-2-3, with freshman Chiara Del Piccolo leading them across the line in 17:22.65. Williams needed all of those points, too, as their fourth-ranked squad won the team battle over third-ranked MIT by a mere four points.
The NJAC also had their championships last weekend, which saw the men and women from TCNJ continuing their winning ways. Outdoor All-American in the 800 Meryl Wimberly propelled the TCNJ women to their fourteenth consecutive title with an automatic qualifying 2:11.74, placing her third on the divisional performance list. The only other top-notch distance performance came from Robin England of Rutgers-Camden—already the owner of a strong provisional mark in the 5k—who ran 10:01.86 to win the 3k.
A few other scattered performances of note include a 4:12.44 mile from cross country runner-up Ben Sathre of St. Thomas at the Snowshoe Open as well as a pair of 400 meter times for division-leaders stepping down in distance. Miler Patrick Klein of UW-Platteville honed his wheels for nationals with a 52.82 mark, and 800 meter runner Keelie Finnel of Coe hit the provisional qualifier in the 400 in 57.88.
Unfortunately, there are no special shout-outs this week, since as far as I know, no one cracked the top 10 all-time lists in any of the nationally contested events. There were lots of close calls, though, so hopefully there will be many more to report on next week.
Speaking of next week, we should expect to see a lot more top distance performances at the various championship meets. There will be tons of great competition at the previously mentioned WIAC, CCIW, and UAA meets, as well as at the NEICAAA meet at the BU track, already the producer of tons of automatic distance qualifiers.