Last weekend, both the men and women’s track teams sent runners to the North Eastern Open Championships at Boston University. The men’s team had only one competitor, Owen Kiely ’06. For the women’s team, both Lisa Sussman ’09 and Steph O’Brien ’08 had strong showings.
The men’s team tied for 25th place out of 32 teams, an impressive feat considering Kiely was the only participant.
Kiely ran in the 3k race against 27 other competitors. He finished in a strong 8:30.31, placing fourth overall. Out of the nine Division III runners in the race, Kiely finished first.
Sussman, one of the two female competitors at the open, competed in the 500m. She improved her personal record by two seconds. O’Brien also competed in the event, despite battling a virus.
“Even though Steph was fighting a stomach bug, she was able to run a 1:19.67,” Sussman said. “Even though that was not her fastest time, I think the race says a lot about her mental strength. Before the race she said, ‘I’ll probably throw up after this, but I know I’ll regret it if I don’t run.’”
While the rest of the team did not compete in any races, simply attending the race was valuable.
“Just being able to go to D-III New England was an amazing experience,” said Kiran Sheffrin ’10. “I was so excited about my first championship meet and the freshmen definitely learned a lot about competing from the upperclassmen.”
The attitude displayed by Sheffrin and the other freshman has also been helpful for the team.
“It’s been a long season, but the freshmen especially have stayed extremely upbeat and have continued to work hard throughout the many months of training,” O’Brien said. ‘Their enthusiasm helps to keep my own motivation high, and I think this feelings goes for the rest of the team as well.“
The long season has been plagued with injuries, which has put added stress on the freshman who have to step up as a result.
”I think this year everyone is expecting a lot from the freshmen. I know I am expecting a lot from myself just because we had such a great start of the season, but unfortunately some injuries, shin splints and stress fractures, hurt us a bit,“ Sheffrin said.
Next weekend, the both teams will compete at home in the Eastern College Athletic Conference championships. Both Sussman and O’Brien have qualified to run in ECAC.
”It will be a little difficult to run there after having such impressive competition and a banked track at BU,“ Sussman said. ”But having a home meet will be exciting after so many weekends away. It’s also our last indoor meet of the year, and my last opportunity to run the 500, that race doesn’t exist in outdoor, so I’d love to get one more [personal record] to end the season.“
Leave a Reply