Riding high from their respective Heptagonal victories, the women's and men's track teams competed for individual glory at the Eastern College Athletic Conference and IC4A Championships, respectively.
As two-time defending champion, Nicole Harrison had little to prove about her dominance in the east of the 55-meter hurdles. Harrison walked away with another win and an unprecedented third straight ECAC championship in a time of 7.65 seconds, Sunday in Roxbury, Mass.
Harrison, who qualified earlier in the season for nationals, improved on her recent performances of around 7.9 seconds, building her confidence for next week's NCAA Championships.
"I'm happy since I'm actually getting my time down," Harrison said.
Want it all
If she hopes to walk away with a national championship or All-America status, she will need to run 7.50.
"Realistically," head coach Peter Farrell said, "you want to be in the finals and make All-American."
This is clearly within Harrison's reach, but she must continue to work on running off the hurdles. That is, snapping off the hurdles and running to the next with more fluidity.
For the rest of the women, this weekend's meet spelled an end to their seasons. But before it was over, the women's distance medley relay finished third in a time of 11:33.02 behind strong splits by junior Bynia Reed in the 400 and senior Michelle D'Agostino in the 800.
No go
The relay team met the provisional qualifying time for nationals. Because more teams had run faster throughout the year, its time was not enough for the team to qualify for NCAAs.
The Tigers, en route to their 16th place finish, also received points from junior Aiyanna Burton, who finished third in the pentathlon with 3482 points and continued to perform with the consistency she has displayed throughout the season.
At the IC4A championships in Ithaca, N.Y., the men placed three individuals and a relay team in the top eight en route to a ninth place finish.
Phenom
The Tigers were led by freshman phenom high jumper Tora Harris who finished second with a jump of seven feet, one inch. Although his jump was equal to the first place finisher's, Harris had more misses before he reached that height, and thus finished below his competitor.
While the Tigers showed glimpses of their youth, two solid veterans stood tall this weekend. Senior Pete Kimball capped off an exceptional season by finishing third in the 800 with a time of1:52.43.
In the field, junior Dan Shimooka captured fourth place with a pole vault of 16-3/4.
For most, the next two weeks will provide a rest from the grueling competition schedule, as both teams head to Florida for spring break training.
But for Harrison and others, the next week may culminate in a special performance at the NCAA Championships.
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