Men's, women's indoor track score fourth-place showing at Tufts Invite

Women’s Track

The women’s team had a dominant showing, taking home several first-place individual awards and a victory in a pair of relays. “Everything really has started to come together for us and it was apparent at Tufts,” said senior co-captain Carter Hamill.

Shauneen Garrahan ’07 set a school record and earned a provisional qualification for the NCAA Championships for her winning time of 2:16:25 in the 800-meter run. Ginger Polich ’06 also had a school record-setting run, winning the 600-meter dash in a blistering time of 1:38:65, while Hamill tallied another solo title in the 3000-meter race. Hannah Campbell ’07, Julia Rucker ’06, Lyndsey Scott ’06 and senior co-captain Lee-Jay Henry rounded out the team’s set of ribbon-breaking finishes with a victory in the 4×400-meter relay. The four also placed second in the 4×200-meter relay.

In addition, the Jeffs proved successful in the middle-distance relays as Hamill, Garrahan, Polich and first-year Heather Wilson combined to grab a win in the 4×800-meter relay.

This weekend, the women’s team will compete in split squads with the hope of earning several NCAA qualifications at both events. Some of the Jeffs will run in the Fast Track Invitational at Boston University while others will head to the Tufts Stampede.

Men’s Track

On the men’s side, the Jeffs were able to place first in a pair of races. Mike Page ’05 had an impressive run in the 1500-meter race, finishing first in under four minutes. Sophomores John Babbott and Sam Hayman, co-captain Jack Morgan ’05 and Page took first in the 4×800 relay. Page identified Morgan’s performance in this race as one of the highlights of the meet. “[Morgan] ran the anchor leg and brought us from behind to a very close win,” said Page.

In other relay action, first-year Rom Cabeza, sophomores Geoff Stricsek and Jon Ettinger and junior Tim Porter joined forces to place second in the 4×400-meter relay.

The men’s team also took home a number of individual awards. Hayman took second in the 600-meter dash, Jon Ettinger ’07 came in third in the 400-meter and Babbott placed third in the 800-meter run. The Jeffs performed well in the distance events, especially the 5000-meter run, where Mike Harbus ’08, Robert Boley ’07, and Nate Freese ’07 crossed the line in fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively.

The men will also separate this weekend between the meets at BU and Tufts.

It is the Jeffs’ last weekend to warm up before the Div. III New England Championships on Feb. 19.