Sports

Mullarkey resets program record, leads all of Division III in steeplechase

In print | April 16, 2009

Caitlin Mullarkey ‘09 reset her own college record in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the Bucknell Bison Invite on Saturday, despite unseasonably cold and rainy conditions that have plagued athletic events across the region in recent weeks.

Mullarkey’s time of 10:47.0 shattered her school mark of 11:02.2, set at the 2008 Penn Relays.
The performance earned her fifth-place in a field of 35 athletes representing universities across all three divisions.

Mullarkey was the top finisher from a non-Division I program, finishing behind a pair of Penn State runners, an entrant from Cornell and one from the University of Maryland.

Her time leaves her sitting pretty atop the NCAA Division III top performance list, after a weekend that featured two other 10:47s turned in by other leading runners across the country.

The mark leaves Mullarkey just shy of the NCAA Division III automatic qualifying standard of 10:44.0, but positions her comfortably under the provisional standard of 11:13.0.

The slowest time to receive an invitation to the national meet in 2008 was 10:55.0.

Mullarkey and the track team will next compete at the Widener Invite on Friday and Saturday.