All-New Englands are tough enough for the Jumbos, as they battle the best competition in New England from Div. I, II, and III.
On Saturday, May 13, the team also had to battle Mother Nature, as almost four inches of rain fell on Boston.
But sophomore Catherine Beck and senior tri-captain Becca Ades seemed impervious to the monsoon overhead, as both runners set new school records as the Jumbos took 11th, scoring 20 points at the meet held at MIT.
In a back-and-forth battle with classmate Katy O'Brien over the 1,500 meter school record, Beck had the final word this weekend. Her first-place time of 4:30.45 one-upped O'Brien's May 6 time of 4:35.22, which had broken Beck's own 4:35.4 mark set at NESCACs just a week before. The time automatically qualified Beck for Nationals, matching her automatic qualification in the 5,000 meters. Despite losing the record, O'Brien's Div. III's time will still likely be fast enough to get her to Nationals.
Beck found herself in a field with Keene State senior Breanne Lucey, the indoor national champion in the 800, and two runners from Providence College, which is known for its strong distance running program. The lead pack went through the first two laps in 2:20, a very fast pace, before the tempo slowed.
"The pace slowed a bit, so [Beck] moved into second behind [Providence junior Meghan] Owen and then basically hung on until the final 50 meters when Owen tried to pull away, and Beck put on a burst and blew by her," coach Kristen Morwick said.
"I started off conservatively and just tried to pick it up and step it up," Beck said. "Going out slowly and at the back of the pack definitely helped me out later."
Beck scored 10 points for the team by becoming the New England champion in the 1,500. It is her fifth school record and fourth as an individual. She set two school records during the indoor season and, in along with the 5,000 and the 4x800 relay, has set three during the outdoor season.
Beck only awaits a chance to continue her stellar season at Nationals, which takes place at Benedictine University on May 25-27. She went to Nationals during indoors this past winter in the 5,000, taking 13th.
"It's going to be a really good experience," Beck said. "Hopefully I can go out there and put it together because I haven't been able to so far. I feel like it's time."
Ades didn't let Beck have all the fun on the day, as the senior broke her own record for the second time this season. Ades took fourth in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, running 10:47.8 and automatically qualifying for Nationals.
Ades set the school record for the event as a sophomore with a time of 10:53.9, and then broke that record two weeks ago at NESCACs, running 10:52.5. Her time at All New-Englands undercut that mark by five seconds and the NCAA automatic qualifying mark by 0.2 seconds.
After coming close to qualifying in the 5,000 at Penn Relays a few weeks ago, Ades could have made a push to qualify, but she chose to focus on the steeplechase instead.
"She's running great right now and is ready to have a breakout race at Nationals," Morwick said. "This is her race, and she knows it, and we're not getting greedy and going for anything else."
The storms that hit New England last weekend hurt sprinters at All-New Englands, making the quest for NCAA qualifying times much more difficult.
"The weather certainly hurt the sprint events more," Morwick said. "So anything 800 meters and down was a tough race to perform well in."
The 4x400 meter relay team of O'Brien, senior tri-captain Rachel Bloom, sophomore Kaleigh Fitzpatrick and freshman Jackie Ferry, which hit 3:54.80 at Div. IIIs, had looked to use All-New Englands to improve their ranking on the Nationals performance list.
But the weather did not cooperate, as the team took fifth in 3:57.3, short of the time it will likely need to get to Nationals. As of press time, one final chance remained for the team to improve its position; the ECAC Championships took place May 20 and results can be found on ase.tufts.edu/athletics. Ranked 16th on the Nationals list as of press time, the squad may sneak into Nationals anyway, although a better showing at ECACs would certainly help.
"I'm very impressed with [the 4x400 team] thus far," Beck said of her teammates. "Hopefully they can get some good weather. I think they're really ready to bust it out."
O'Brien also felt the effects of the weather during her race in the 800 meters. O'Brien, who is currently provisionally qualified for Nationals in the event, took eighth with a time of 2:17.23, about two seconds slower than her fastest and slower than she'd like to be running this late in the season.
"The weather just made it impossible to get going," Morwick said. "[O'Brien] hung back, and then out-kicked a few in her heat in the last stretch, but she said she couldn't feel her legs."
All of the Jumbo sprinters have seen better performances than those at All-New Englands. Junior Maggie Clary and freshman Kathleen Rutecki both had one of their slower times in the 400 hurdles, with Clary taking 19th (1:08.35) and Rutecki finishing 22nd (1:09.53). Rutecki ran a 1:06.74 at Div. III's the week before for fourth place.
The 4x100 meter relay team of sophomores Erica Steinitz and Joyce Uang and freshman Aubrey Wasser and Halsey Stebbins ran 51.02 for 10th, 0.3 seconds slower than at Div. III's. Steinitz also had a slower time in the 100 meters, running 13.28 for 24th place.
The weather forced the field events indoors. Freshman Paula Dormon, who set a personal best at Div. III's with a third-place 41'08.50" throw, took 20th at All-New England's, throwing 37'08.50. Finals wore down the freshman and hurt her throws at All-New England's. At press time, she was six inches away from the provisional qualifying mark for Nationals in the event with ECACs as her final chance to make it onto the list.
"[Dormon] was just too tired to perform," Morwick said. "ECACs will be better."
Sophomore Sarah Martin finished 18th in the hammer with a throw of 138'11" down from the 145'10" mark that earned her sixth place at Div. III's. Uang took 16th in the high jump (5'01") and sophomore Jenna Weir took 17th in the long jump (15'10.50").
At Div. III's the weekend before, the team had 60.33 points for fourth place, courtesy of strong performances across the board. Besides O'Brien, Martin, Rutecki, Dormon, and the 4x400 meter relay scoring points, the team got contributions from its two heptathletes.
Senior tri-captain Megan Sears took fourth in the heptathlon with 3,769 points and Clary took sixth with 3,663 points. Fitzpatrick ran the 400 meters, taking second to score eight points (58.85), and Weir added points in the triple jump by taking fourth (34'10.50").
