All-American Ferrell heads back to NCAA championship

Senior Carrie Strickland went into last Sunday's finals of the mile at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) meet hoping to break a trend.

In meets in which athletes have to run trials of an event one day and finals the next day, Strickland has a history of running poorly in the finals. But, this time, at her last collegiate indoor track meet, she decided to race differently.

Instead of letting the other athletes begin quickly and falling behind, never to catch up, Strickland opted to take off fast and control the race. With her new tactic, she was able to nab fourth place with a personal best of four minutes, 50 seconds.

Strategy pays off

Sophomore Catha Mullen was also in the race and passed Strickland with just under two laps remaining to set her own personal record with a time of 4:48. For Mullen too, running her perfect race required changing her strategy. Unlike Strickland, Mullen said she tends to go out quickly and then tires too soon.

So at ECACs, head coach Peter Farrell told Mullen to wait. She listened to his advice, holding steady until she had 300 meters remaining before picking up her pace and finishing strong.

The meet, in which six Tigers competed, was held in Boston at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center. Though team scores were not kept, the athletes who attended posted excellent times.

Senior Caitlin Tormey ran 2:52 in the 1,000m run trials, while junior Lindsay Cole ran a 2:10 in the 800. She was followed by freshman Liz Bergold, who finished in 2:11.

The men's team took the weekend off. Head coach Fred Samara opted not to send members of the squad to IC4As, the equivalent of ECACs for men. Some members of the men's team will travel to Myrtle Beach over spring break, while the seniors on the women's team will compete in Miami.

ECACs marked the end of the season for all of the men's and women's track teams, except for junior Cack Ferrell.

Ferrell will be the lone Tiger representative at the NCAA Championship meet in Arkansas this weekend. Though she could compete in either the mile or the 3,000m run — she is ranked ninth in the mile and eighth in the 3,000 — Ferrell chose the 3,000.

Last chance at 3,000

Ferrell said she chose the 3,000 because it is not an event during the outdoor season, so the NCAA meet represents Ferrell's last chance to set a personal record in the event this year.

Ferrell said she hopes to earn all-American honors, as she did when she ran 9:18 to take 11th place at last year's championship. She recalled that in that race, her first mile clocked in at approximately 4:50-4:54, which was too fast for her to sustain — she had trouble finishing strong.