As the women’s track team has continued its ascension up the NESCAC ladder during the winter season, it has become clear that the Cardinal runners are among the strongest in the NESCAC. In particular, one name has stood out: Lisa Sussman ’09, who has dominated both individual and relay events.

Sussman was part of a quartet of first-place finishes during the opening meet of the winter season, clocking in at 2:24.61 in the 800-meter run and leading the 4×400-meter relay to another top finish. She followed that up with a first-place finish in the 1000-meter run in the Wesleyan Invitational II and a pair of first-place finishes (in the 800m and 4x400m relay) the following week. She racked up another first-place finish in the Cardinals’ final home meet of the season with a time of 3:03.30 in the 1000-meter run. Sussman contributed three of the Cardinals’ 11 team points during last week’s New England Division III meet with a seventh-place finish in the 800m (2:19.42) and an eighth-place finish, along with Lilly Fesler ’11, Julia Frieze ’12 and Kiran Sheffrin ’10, in the 4x400m relay (4:08.89). Sussman also excelled last spring, with a second-place finish in the 400-meter dash and first-place finish in the 4×800-meter relay during the Swanson Invitational.

The team is poised to build on a dominant strong winter and improve on last year’s eighth-place finish in the NESCAC Championships. The Cardinals certainly have the talent to do so in 2009, and Sussman, a Baltimore native, looks to add a third member to the flock of mid-Atlantic birds poised to soar in 2009.