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BY JAYMES FAIRFAX-COLUMBO

In print | Published March 6, 2008

Good things come in triples: three wishes, the Three Musketeers, the three little pigs and three silver medals for the Swarthmore women’s indoor track and field team.

The Garnet women brought home silver medals in the Distance Medley Relay, the 3000 meters and the 800 meters over two days at the Centennial Conference Championships, hosted by Ursinus College on March 1-2.

Kicking off the action was Melina Healey ’08 in the mile. Healey ran it to a time of 5:46.38, quite an accomplishment considering that she had done only a week of actual running due to an injury.

The Swarthmore DMR squad, consisting of Nyika Corbett ‘10, Lauren Deluca ’10, Bess Ritter ’09 and Cait Mullarkey ’09, was next. The quartet combined for a time of 12:41.58 over 4000 meters. All the women ran strong legs, but Mullarkey’s 5:08 mile split (which would unofficially break the Swarthmore record) propelled her ahead of a Dickinson College runner in the final straightaway, giving the women a second-place finish by just .15 seconds. “I had no idea how fast I was running; I was just trying to pick people off. I was going to go for it a little earlier, but I went past [Coach] Pete [Carroll] and he yelled, ‘Slow squeeze,’ so I sat on Dickinson until we came off the last curve,” Mullarkey said, when describing her inspired run. Mullarkey also showed some love to her squad mates. “I did it for my teammates; they’re awesome. All I could think about was Nyika’s beautiful face,” she said.

Ritter was next up, rounding the track in 20:17.48 for 5000 meters. Ritter would also clock in at 11:25.85 for 3000 meters, a remarkable feat considering the fact that Ritter raced over five miles at the meet, all while nursing a significant fever.

Ritter wasn’t the only Garnet representative in the 3000. Corbett, Emma Stanley ’09 and Faith Pampel ’09, who all ran solidly, joined her in the race.

Stanley and Pampel both dropped considerable chunks of time off of their results from just a week prior, with Stanley running 11:04.86 while Pampel ran 11:25.45, the latter mark a personal record.

The real story of the 3000, however, was Corbett’s controlled run to a silver medal. Corbett worked her way steadily through the field until the last few laps of the race when she unleashed a devastating kick to easily distance herself from the chase pack. Her time of 10:37.71 was also good enough to move her up to sixth place on the Swarthmore all-time list.

In analyzing her race strategy, Corbett said, “I was supposed to sit the first half and work the last mile. I was happy with the race, but not satisfied.” Corbett also showed her humility, as she was quick to change focus from herself to her teammates, as she exclaimed, “I’m looking forward to our DMR next year. We’re gonna kick some ass!”

The 800 meters was also a strong event for the Garnet, with Deluca and Mullarkey both racing in the fastest heat. Mullarkey started off patiently but put in a big third lap to close the gap to frontrunner Annick Lamar of Haverford. Coming into the final straight, Mullarkey mounted a furious offensive, coming up just shy of Lamar in an indoor personal record of 2:17.58, four seconds faster than her winning time a year prior. Deluca, struggling with a lingering illness, nonetheless ran a respectable time of 2:33.17.

Heather Hightower ’09 was the lone Garnet field representative, throwing the shot 8.36 meters to set a new personal record and cap off a highly successful rookie campaign.

Head Coach Pete Carroll was proud of the Garnet’s effort, commending the women on a job well done. “The DMR was so exciting, last to second with a 5:08 and Bess ran an event that she doesn’t normally run and was sick and hung in there … Cait ran great, going wire to wire with an All-American in the 800. Nyika ran a brilliant race in the 3000 and got second because she ran smart.”

Next for the Garnet women is a trip to Florida and competition at the Florida A&M University relays on March 7-8. “[We’re] looking forward to sunshine and no academics,” Coach Carroll said.

Disclosure Note: Nyika Corbett is a contributor to The Phoenix, but she had no role in the production of this article.

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