Senior co-captain Cat Beck was named NESCAC Performer of the Week on Monday after her performance in the 800-meter race at the Solomon Husky Invitational at Northeastern University on Saturday.
Beck crossed the finish line first in her field of 33 with a time of 2:11.52, just two hundredths of a second off of the NCAA automatic qualifying mark. Though she did not get an automatic bid to Nationals, the senior did fall easily within the NCAA provisional time for the event. With the season three weeks old, Beck's time is currently the fastest in the nation.
The time also set a new Tufts record, as no Jumbo had previously broken 2:12 in the 800. Beck took the crown from Caitlin Murphy (LA '00), who ran a 2:12.66 800 in 1999. Murphy's accomplishments during her time at Tufts serve to further highlight just how stellar Beck's performance was, as Murphy was the two-time 800-meter national champion.
Beck has buoyed the Tufts track team by taking part in four NESCAC championships. She won 1,500-meter conference titles in her sophomore and junior years, while taking part in the conference-champion 4x800-meter relay teams in her freshman and sophomore years. With Beck's stellar performance in the 800, there may be more conference titles to come when the 2008 NESCAC Championship meet is run on April 26.
