Catherine Beck, Cross Country
Cat Beck was up to her same old antics this weekend, dominating the track and field scene by running faster than anyone in the country.
Beck had an enormous amount of success in the 5,000-meter race on Friday at Bosotn University's Terrier Classic, finishing in a time of 16:42.23 on the banked track, which lends itself to quicker times. Her adjusted time of 16:45.53 automatically qualifies her for Nationals, and makes her the fastest 5,000 runner in the country at the Div. III level, well ahead of SUNY Geneso's sophomre Liz Montgomery, with a time of 16:57.64. She also outdid herself, breaking her own Tufts indoor record.
In addition to her success in the 5,000 meter, Beck anchored the Distance Medley Relay, running a blazing 4:59 mile leg to lead her team to a second-place finish. The Jumbos DMR time of 12:00.53 is the fastest DMR this season in Div. III and is also the second fastest run in Tufts history.
The 2006 New England Div. III Women's Track Athlete of the year, Beck has her sights set on continuing her dominance of the region at the New England Div. III Championships in mid-February.
Chris Delaney, Squash
Though the men's squash team struggled to post a 2-3 mark over five matches last week, sophomore Chris Delaney proved unbeatable while playing No. 2 matches against NESCAC foes and nationally-ranked opponents.
Ranked 111th in the country, Delaney won all five of his contests, four of which were dominant 3-0 victories. Among them was a 9-1, 9-2, 9-6 walloping of Franklin and Marshall's senior Setyajut Seshadri, the 77th best player in the country, during Sunday's Yale Round Robin.
That win followed another decisive victory during a Wednesday match at Conn. College, when Delaney surrendered just six points to junior Wade Mynatt, as the Jumbos thumped the Camels 8-1. The Princeton, N.J. native also took matches against Rochester's freshman Yohay Wakabayashi and Hamilton's sophomore John DeWitt by 3-0 counts.
Delaney's Friday victory against Bowdoin's senior Matt Dresher, ranked 84th in the country, was not nearly as commanding, but was equally as impressive. After dropping the first two games 8-10 and 5-9, Delaney stormed back to win the final three and take the match.
Delaney will certainly be a major weapon for the Jumbos when the NESCAC Tournament kicks off on Friday.
