Sports

Mullarkey dominates steeple

In print | April 17, 2008

The Garnet women’s outdoor track and field team continued its successful trek towards the Centennial Conference championships last weekend with a trip to the College of New Jersey Invitational.

The action was highlighted by the record-setting performance by Cait Mullarkey ‘09 in the 3000 meter steeple chase. Mullarkey won by nearly 45 seconds and chopped a hefty 20 seconds off of the previous college record (which was held by her). The time was a conference qualifier by almost two and a half minutes and nearly an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Additionally, the time was the second fastest in the Centennial Conference this year, bested only by Dickinson College’s Cait Bradley, a former All-American.

Mullarkey’s performance wasn’t the only record-setting performance of the meet, however. Lauren Deluca ’10 ran a superb 800 meters to chop two seconds of her previous 800 meter PR. Deluca finished ninth with a time of 2:23.88, a conference qualifying mark by a wide margin.

Deluca was followed in by Bess Ritter ’09, Faith Pampel ’09 and Rebecca Woo ’11, all of whom dipped under the conference standard of 2:39.37 as well.

Additionally, Cait Russell ‘11 set a PR, making her collegiate debut in the 5000 meters. Russell paced herself to a time of 19:12.66, well under the conference standard of 20:48.47. The performance also landed her a fourth-place finish in the event. In describing her race, Russell stated, "I went out a little fast; I got a little excited but I kept it up and got a good finish time so I’m happy with how I did."

Though the event marked Russell’s long-distance debut on the track, it wasn’t an unwelcome change, especially during Parents Weekend. As Russell explained, “My mom was happy that the 5k was so long; it gave her twelve-and-a-half laps to watch me run!”

The 1500 meters was also a key event for the Garnet. Nyika Corbett ’10 posted a stellar time of 4:51.04, landing her at ninth on the Swarthmore all-time list and fourth both in the race and in the Centennial Conference. The time also qualified her for the Centennial Conference Championships. Corbett was joined by Melina Healey ’08, who ran a conference qualifying time of 5:18.25, and Emma Stanley ’09, who churned out a strong performance despite being a more distance-oriented racer.

The Garnet women also got some speed work in, as they fielded an incredible two 4×400 meters squads. As Healey explained, “We had a record breaking 4×4 at the meet. In my entire Swarthmore career, we have never fielded two full 4×4 teams, but we did on Saturday even though everyone was tired and the day was long and hot.”

The field events were also well represented at TCNJ, as Nathalie De Gaiffier ’10 and Heather Hightower ’09 led the charge. De Gaiffier sprinted the 200 meters in addition to setting a PR in the long jump with a leap of 4.10 meters.

Hightower was also a multi-event athlete, tossing the shot 8.35 meters in addition to flinging the discus 20.28 meters and rocketed the javelin 13.13 meters.

Alex Breslow ‘11 witnessed the impressive acts of the women’s team. Breslow imparted his expert opinion, stating, “Lauren ran exceedingly well. She broke her PR by two seconds and that’s great. Overall, I think the girls raced outlandishly well and I look forward to seeing them race more.”

Andrew VanBuren ‘10 also attested to the strong performance of the women’s team, as he said, “I was burning up on Saturday. I don’t know if it was the sun or the fire from the girls’ shoes though.”

The Garnet women will next be in action on Friday and Saturday, April 18-19, at Widener University’s Widener Invitational.