Track team boasts widespread success

The day started for the women with Helen Dole ’04 finishing an impressive 12th in the pentathlon. One of the highlights of the day was senior Rebecca Woo’s 1000m race. She started out in the lead and went wire to wire, finishing in a blistering 2:56.99, breaking the previous record by a little over three seconds. “She definitely commanded that race,” said men’s tri-captain Jacob Cooper ’02. “We were all a little disappointed that there is no 1000 [meter race] in the Nationals.”

Woo also participated in the winning 4 x 800m relay team, also consisting of Carter Hamill ’05, Kate Hamill ’03 and Laurel Kilgour ’03. They breezed past the competition and crossed the finish line in 9:26.99, breaking a 13-year school record.

In the 500m, tri-captain Amie Shei ’02 felt an extra burst of energy in the last few seconds of her race to finish runner-up with a time of 1:19.95. In the 800m, Kilgour placed seventh with her NCAA provisionally qualifying time of 2:18.81. On her heels were K. Hamill, Annie Perez ’02 and Diana Rancourt ’02. Perez and Rancourt finished their final indoor season with their best times of the year.

In the 1500m, C. Hamill took seventh place with 4:42.39. Lee-Jay Henry ’05 ran a personal best in the 55m on Friday. Disappointingly, she missed making the triple jump finals, although she broke 36 feet in her best jump of the year.

The distance medley relay team of Woo, Shei, Kilgour, and Aly Venti ’04 ran to a fourth place finish and barely missed automatic qualification for the NCAAs with a time of 12:14.57.

The highlight of the men’s weekend occured when John Stanton-Geddes ’04 placed fourth in the 1500m with a season best time of 3:56.92. The time provisionally qualified him for the NCAAs. “John had a great race,” said Cooper. “He was really competitive in the race itself.”

In the 1000m, Andy Schneider ’04 was tripped while en route to a third place finish, but got back up and finished his race, resulting in a time of 2:38.31. “He certainly would have been up there at the top,” said Cooper. “But he’s still got two years and this season to prove himself.” The 4 x 400m relay team came in 15th with a final time of 3:29.

Next up for the Jeffs is the NCAA Championships in Northern Ohio.