America East Victory
With Kathryn Ireland and Jennifer Kehoe amassing 52 points while completing a difficult mile-1000 meter-3000 meter triple, the women's team rallied to win its fourth conference indoor title in the past seven years. The theme of the day was score points and the whole team focused on just that as it rolled by runner up Northeastern by some thirty points.
The first event of the day was the 5000 meter run. Lauren Matthews and Bolpar Vinh ran at less than full capacity, both having to reduce training to recover from nagging injury. Dina Mijuskovic and Tara Johnson ran as back ups for them and to secure some additional points before returning for the mile. Lauren finished second, Bolpar third, Dina fifth, and Tara sixth to get the team off to a good start with 17 points.
Next up was the mile. Amy DeCamp of UNH took off from the gun, seeming determined to run away with the race. Coach Lehane suggested to reserve some energy for subsequent races, but Katie Ireland and Jennifer Kehoe threw caution to the wind and took off in pursuit of DeCamp with three laps remaining, culminating in a one-two finish, both clocking 4:51. Dina Mijuskovic, just off her fifth in the 5000, came through fourth in the mile and Tara Johnson duplicated her sixth place 5000 meter finish. The terriers now sat at 40 points.
A big team development occured in the long jump as frosh Pamela Pierre upset the pre-meet form charts, with a suprising jump of 18'2.5", which was good enough for second place. At the same time, Northeastern lost some critical points as one jumper fouled out. B.U. stayed in the lead, now up to 48 points. Pamela went on to add another 4 points in the high jump, while clearing 5'4" on her first attempt.
The 400 turned into a romp by Lauren Warman as she p.b.'d with a 56.00 fully automatic timing. Lauren was hoping for an ECAC qualifying time and spared no effort in nailing it down. With only a twenty five minute rest, she came back in the 500, placing sixth. Caroline Occean narrowly missed the victory in the 500, while clocking 1:15.01 - under the previous conference mark. Caroline then took a short break and came back in the 800, running 2:16 while tying for fourth. Ahead of her in second, running 2:15.81, was Briana Neault, who brought the team scoring up to 80points.
Jennifer Kehoe took the 1000, after finishing second in the mile, and Katie Ireland chipped in with a third place finish, backed up by Mary Kingston's sixth. With 97 points now scored, it was beginning to feel like the team would take the meet.
Andrea Stuermer came through with another conference win in the pole vault, clearing 12'3". With over a hundred points scored, and the next event up the 3000 meter it seemed that we were on our way. Watching Katie Ireland and Jennifer Kehoe pulling away over the final laps of the 3000, their third event of the day, locking up another 1-2 finish, one couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in the strength of this women's group. With 125 points already scored, the meet was a lock. The 4x4 of Pamela Pierre, Caroline Occean, Julia Nazzer, and Lauren Warman went out and placed fifth, while the 4x8 of Sophie Melief, Briana Neault, Dina Mijuskovic, and Rachel Felton nailed a second to bring the total up to a victorious 139 points.
This marked the seventh indoor conference victory for the women's squad in the conference's thirteen year history. A well deserved trophy for the team and individual awards were distributed the America East conference to commemorate the event.
Kathryn Ireland, who won the mile and the 3000 and placed third in the 1000 meter run, was named the outstanding performer of the meet.