Division 3 Weekly Recap (Feb 25-27, 2011)
Division 3 Weekly Recap (Feb 25-27, 2011)
The championship season has finally arrived. This week saw tons of great team and individual matchups decided by slim margins, and there’s certainly a lot to talk about with nationals looming less than two weeks away.
We’ll start with the SUNYAC championships, which saw both incredible times and intense competition. On the men’s side, sprint-heavy Buffalo State eeked out a win over distance powerhouse Geneseo by a single point. Down four points heading into the final event of the day, the 4x400 relay, Buffalo State did all they could by trouncing the entire field, helped by star 400 runner Justin Allen. Geneseo took fourth in the relay, but was edged out by Oswego by .05 seconds, which after tallying the scores was the difference between a tie for the team title and second place. The race was hotly contested off the track as well, with multiple teams protesting about a very physical first leg, though there were no DQ’s issued and the final tallies stood. As for the individual efforts, defending mile and 1500 champion Nick Guarino got two solid wins in the mile and 800 with times of 4:12.07 and 1:52.92. Following closely behind was his twin, Josh Guarino, placing second in those same two events. In the 3k, Genseo took first through fifth in a thoroughly dominating performance, and in the 5k, division-leader Mike Heymann obliterated a strong field to win by nearly 40 seconds in 14:34.98.
On the women’s side, Buffalo State again got the win over Geneseo, though in less of a nail-biting fashion. Marissa Liberati had the distance performances of the meet as she won both the 3k and the 5k in strong fashion, though the times were well off her seasonal bests of 9:54.52 and 17:22.37.
If you think that double is impressive, though, then Amanda Laesch of North Central turned in a performance that was out of this world at the CCIW meet. After winning the 5k on Friday afternoon with a strong provisional mark of 17:16.02, she returned on Saturday to win both the mile and the 3k, scoring 30 points for the victorious Cardinals. Krista Cota completed the distance and mid-distance sweep for North Central by winning the 800 in a provisional mark of 2:14.59, beating automatic qualifier Tara Clemens in the process. However, Clemens got some revenge as she helped Illinois Wesleyan take down North Central in the DMR with a time of 12:20.58.
On the men’s side, North Central swept everything from the mile on up, including a 1-2-3 finish in the 5k with Dan Kerley leading All-Americans Neal Klein and Mike Spain across the line in a time of 14:34.94. Klein and Spain came back the next day to win the 3k and the mile, respectively, to help the nation’s top-ranked squad to an eleventh straight conference title.
At the WIAC championships, second-ranked UW-LaCrosse took home the men’s title and top-ranked UW-Oshkosh got the women’s team victory, both by almost 30 points. In a highly competitive meet, there were clear winners in every men’s even from the 800 to the 5k which is surely a testament to the ability of those four champions—all from different schools. These are certainly all names to keep an eye on come nationals. David Litsheim of UW-Stevens Point notched a slight seasonal best in 1:52.83, winning the 800 by over two seconds. In the mile, division-leader Patrick Klein won by almost three seconds and broke Willy Kaul’s fieldhouse record en route to a 4:12.04 clocking. Brian Butzler of UW-Whitewater ran away with the 3k by almost ten seconds, finishing with a time of 8:26.96. Finally, Thomas Breitbach of UW-Eau Claire continued his winning ways in the 5k—he is 3 for 3 in races longer than 1000 meters this indoor season, all against impressive competition—with a time of 14:57.86.
The mid-distances provided the highlights in the women’s half of the meet. Christy Cazzola of UW-Oshkosh started things off with an automatic qualifier of 4:54.03, dominating the field and the fieldhouse record. Shortly thereafter, Ann Tank of UW-Platteville continued to show her dangerous speed in the 400, stopping the clock at 57.62. These two top-notch performances set the stage for a great 800 meter final. This time, Cazzola’s strength won out over Tank’s speed, though by less than half a second, as she crossed the line in 2:16.23 to Tank’s 2:16.55. Perhaps we’ll get to see a rematch in just a few weeks at nationals.
The women’s 5k at the UAA meet turned into a run-away victory, as most people probably anticipated. However, the person expected to run away with the title, 5k and 10k outdoor champion Liz Lawton of the University of Chicago, did not finish the race, and instead NYU’s Maeve Evans, All-American in the mile last year, came away with the victory and a strong provisional time of 17:15.50 in her first 5k of the season. Lawton, who dropped out after setting a blistering pace for more than 3200 meters, rebounded well the next day to run away with the 3k in 10:01.18. However, the best distance performances from the meet came from Washington University’s Liz Phillips, who helped her team to a 1-2-3 finish in the 800, won a very close showdown in the mile over Grayce Selig from Brandeis—5:06.37 to 5:06.47—and anchored the DMR to victory in a fieldhouse record of 12:20.01.
The men’s meet was mostly tactical, but the competition was excellent with favorites Paul Norton (Brandeis) Matt Turlip (NYU) scoring wins in the 5k and the mile while underdogs Andrew Baptist (U of Chicago) and James Patterson (NYU) upset favorites Sebastian Schwelm (NYU) and Andrew Wells-Qu (U of Chicago) in the 3k and 800, respectively.
The NEICAAA meet, consisting of all divisions in New England, saw some spectacular D3 times thrown down on the BU track. The highlight among these would be Ben Scheetz of Amherst continuing his domination of anything between 400 and 800 meters, and it seems like he just keeps getting better. His 800 clocking of 1:48.08 is the second-fastest indoor 800 of all-time. Trailing Scheetz were Jeff Marvel and Connor Rose, both of Tufts, who ran 1:52.12 and 1:52.44. In the DMR, Bowdoin ran 9:56.94 to get the win over Bates and Middlebury, and in the 4x400 Williams edged Amherst by half of a second with their clocking of 3:16.12, good for fourth on the performance lists.
As impressive as those men’s performances were, they were mostly overshadowed by the continued success of Wellesley’s middle distance stars Leah Clement and Randelle Boots. Clement ran 2:10.18 to put herself seventh on the all-time indoor lists and Boots stopped the clock at 4:49.22 to move into sixth all-time. Amy Knoblock of Keene State, though well beaten by Boots in the mile, moves into third on this year’s performance lists with her provisional time of 4:54.14. In the DMR, MIT led Keene State and Williams to sub-12 performances with their division-leading time of 11:49.80.
The Centennial Conference Championship featured lots of wins from Haverford’s distance and mid-distance squad, though the 5k was a notable exception. Cross-country national champ Anders Hulleberg faded to second after Kent Pecora of Dickinson surged to victory; however, he rallied well to later come back with a victory in the 3k. Tim Schoch helped out by scoring a pair of victories in the 800 and the mile, leading the Haverford men to a dominating team title.
The 5k was the premier event of the women’s meet, which saw five women finish in under 17:50. Christina Valerio of Johns Hopkins crossed the line first with a time 17:24.84 to help her team edge out Haverford for the team title, 140-134.
Although on the women’s side the IIAC is best know for the long sprints, the conference showed its strength in the women’s distances as well. Catie Ellingson of Simpson ran 4:57.97 in the mile to run away with the league title and provisionally qualify for nationals and Wartburg’s DMR also turned in an impressive provisional qualifier after crushing the field in 12:02.13. True to form, though, the women’s 400 stole the show with Wartburg’s Nevada Morrison improving upon her division-leading time with a 55.83 clocking. Keelie Finnel of Coe, already the top D3 runner in the 800, wasn’t too far behind, finishing in 56.97.
Another race of note was the men’s 800 at the Anderson Fred Wilt Memorial Invitational, which saw two automatic qualifiers from Wabash College. Jake Waterman broke the tape first in 1:50.87, good for ninth on the all-time indoor lists, and teammate Kevin McCarthy was close behind in 1:52.03.
Special shout-outs for this week go to a pair of record-setting vaulters. Peter Geraghty of North Central, who cleared 17’1.5” (5.22 meters), moves into a tie for ninth on the all-time indoor lists, while Karin Fisher of MIT, previously tied for ninth on the lists, vaulted up to third with a big PR of 13’3.75” (4.06 meters).
Next week should provide even more excitement as individuals across the nation scramble to last chance meets in their final attempts to make nationals. We’re in the homestretch now. Good luck!
We’ll start with the SUNYAC championships, which saw both incredible times and intense competition. On the men’s side, sprint-heavy Buffalo State eeked out a win over distance powerhouse Geneseo by a single point. Down four points heading into the final event of the day, the 4x400 relay, Buffalo State did all they could by trouncing the entire field, helped by star 400 runner Justin Allen. Geneseo took fourth in the relay, but was edged out by Oswego by .05 seconds, which after tallying the scores was the difference between a tie for the team title and second place. The race was hotly contested off the track as well, with multiple teams protesting about a very physical first leg, though there were no DQ’s issued and the final tallies stood. As for the individual efforts, defending mile and 1500 champion Nick Guarino got two solid wins in the mile and 800 with times of 4:12.07 and 1:52.92. Following closely behind was his twin, Josh Guarino, placing second in those same two events. In the 3k, Genseo took first through fifth in a thoroughly dominating performance, and in the 5k, division-leader Mike Heymann obliterated a strong field to win by nearly 40 seconds in 14:34.98.
On the women’s side, Buffalo State again got the win over Geneseo, though in less of a nail-biting fashion. Marissa Liberati had the distance performances of the meet as she won both the 3k and the 5k in strong fashion, though the times were well off her seasonal bests of 9:54.52 and 17:22.37.
If you think that double is impressive, though, then Amanda Laesch of North Central turned in a performance that was out of this world at the CCIW meet. After winning the 5k on Friday afternoon with a strong provisional mark of 17:16.02, she returned on Saturday to win both the mile and the 3k, scoring 30 points for the victorious Cardinals. Krista Cota completed the distance and mid-distance sweep for North Central by winning the 800 in a provisional mark of 2:14.59, beating automatic qualifier Tara Clemens in the process. However, Clemens got some revenge as she helped Illinois Wesleyan take down North Central in the DMR with a time of 12:20.58.
On the men’s side, North Central swept everything from the mile on up, including a 1-2-3 finish in the 5k with Dan Kerley leading All-Americans Neal Klein and Mike Spain across the line in a time of 14:34.94. Klein and Spain came back the next day to win the 3k and the mile, respectively, to help the nation’s top-ranked squad to an eleventh straight conference title.
At the WIAC championships, second-ranked UW-LaCrosse took home the men’s title and top-ranked UW-Oshkosh got the women’s team victory, both by almost 30 points. In a highly competitive meet, there were clear winners in every men’s even from the 800 to the 5k which is surely a testament to the ability of those four champions—all from different schools. These are certainly all names to keep an eye on come nationals. David Litsheim of UW-Stevens Point notched a slight seasonal best in 1:52.83, winning the 800 by over two seconds. In the mile, division-leader Patrick Klein won by almost three seconds and broke Willy Kaul’s fieldhouse record en route to a 4:12.04 clocking. Brian Butzler of UW-Whitewater ran away with the 3k by almost ten seconds, finishing with a time of 8:26.96. Finally, Thomas Breitbach of UW-Eau Claire continued his winning ways in the 5k—he is 3 for 3 in races longer than 1000 meters this indoor season, all against impressive competition—with a time of 14:57.86.
The mid-distances provided the highlights in the women’s half of the meet. Christy Cazzola of UW-Oshkosh started things off with an automatic qualifier of 4:54.03, dominating the field and the fieldhouse record. Shortly thereafter, Ann Tank of UW-Platteville continued to show her dangerous speed in the 400, stopping the clock at 57.62. These two top-notch performances set the stage for a great 800 meter final. This time, Cazzola’s strength won out over Tank’s speed, though by less than half a second, as she crossed the line in 2:16.23 to Tank’s 2:16.55. Perhaps we’ll get to see a rematch in just a few weeks at nationals.
The women’s 5k at the UAA meet turned into a run-away victory, as most people probably anticipated. However, the person expected to run away with the title, 5k and 10k outdoor champion Liz Lawton of the University of Chicago, did not finish the race, and instead NYU’s Maeve Evans, All-American in the mile last year, came away with the victory and a strong provisional time of 17:15.50 in her first 5k of the season. Lawton, who dropped out after setting a blistering pace for more than 3200 meters, rebounded well the next day to run away with the 3k in 10:01.18. However, the best distance performances from the meet came from Washington University’s Liz Phillips, who helped her team to a 1-2-3 finish in the 800, won a very close showdown in the mile over Grayce Selig from Brandeis—5:06.37 to 5:06.47—and anchored the DMR to victory in a fieldhouse record of 12:20.01.
The men’s meet was mostly tactical, but the competition was excellent with favorites Paul Norton (Brandeis) Matt Turlip (NYU) scoring wins in the 5k and the mile while underdogs Andrew Baptist (U of Chicago) and James Patterson (NYU) upset favorites Sebastian Schwelm (NYU) and Andrew Wells-Qu (U of Chicago) in the 3k and 800, respectively.
The NEICAAA meet, consisting of all divisions in New England, saw some spectacular D3 times thrown down on the BU track. The highlight among these would be Ben Scheetz of Amherst continuing his domination of anything between 400 and 800 meters, and it seems like he just keeps getting better. His 800 clocking of 1:48.08 is the second-fastest indoor 800 of all-time. Trailing Scheetz were Jeff Marvel and Connor Rose, both of Tufts, who ran 1:52.12 and 1:52.44. In the DMR, Bowdoin ran 9:56.94 to get the win over Bates and Middlebury, and in the 4x400 Williams edged Amherst by half of a second with their clocking of 3:16.12, good for fourth on the performance lists.
As impressive as those men’s performances were, they were mostly overshadowed by the continued success of Wellesley’s middle distance stars Leah Clement and Randelle Boots. Clement ran 2:10.18 to put herself seventh on the all-time indoor lists and Boots stopped the clock at 4:49.22 to move into sixth all-time. Amy Knoblock of Keene State, though well beaten by Boots in the mile, moves into third on this year’s performance lists with her provisional time of 4:54.14. In the DMR, MIT led Keene State and Williams to sub-12 performances with their division-leading time of 11:49.80.
The Centennial Conference Championship featured lots of wins from Haverford’s distance and mid-distance squad, though the 5k was a notable exception. Cross-country national champ Anders Hulleberg faded to second after Kent Pecora of Dickinson surged to victory; however, he rallied well to later come back with a victory in the 3k. Tim Schoch helped out by scoring a pair of victories in the 800 and the mile, leading the Haverford men to a dominating team title.
The 5k was the premier event of the women’s meet, which saw five women finish in under 17:50. Christina Valerio of Johns Hopkins crossed the line first with a time 17:24.84 to help her team edge out Haverford for the team title, 140-134.
Although on the women’s side the IIAC is best know for the long sprints, the conference showed its strength in the women’s distances as well. Catie Ellingson of Simpson ran 4:57.97 in the mile to run away with the league title and provisionally qualify for nationals and Wartburg’s DMR also turned in an impressive provisional qualifier after crushing the field in 12:02.13. True to form, though, the women’s 400 stole the show with Wartburg’s Nevada Morrison improving upon her division-leading time with a 55.83 clocking. Keelie Finnel of Coe, already the top D3 runner in the 800, wasn’t too far behind, finishing in 56.97.
Another race of note was the men’s 800 at the Anderson Fred Wilt Memorial Invitational, which saw two automatic qualifiers from Wabash College. Jake Waterman broke the tape first in 1:50.87, good for ninth on the all-time indoor lists, and teammate Kevin McCarthy was close behind in 1:52.03.
Special shout-outs for this week go to a pair of record-setting vaulters. Peter Geraghty of North Central, who cleared 17’1.5” (5.22 meters), moves into a tie for ninth on the all-time indoor lists, while Karin Fisher of MIT, previously tied for ninth on the lists, vaulted up to third with a big PR of 13’3.75” (4.06 meters).
Next week should provide even more excitement as individuals across the nation scramble to last chance meets in their final attempts to make nationals. We’re in the homestretch now. Good luck!