Magill '11 comes on strong at New Englands

Author: James Schwerdtman

Katy Magill '11 paced the Panthers last weekend at the Open New England Championships at Boston University. The meet brought together the top track and field athletes from every collegiate division.

"This week was a little different," said Magill. "We were running against some really good teams like Southern Maine and UConn, and it was nice running against some really talented people."

Magill had a great performance at Division III New England's, in which she tied the school record in the 600-meter run while setting a new personal record. The sophomore followed it up last weekend with a time of 1:18 in the 500-meter run, breaking the school record and giving her a new personal record.

"Katy had a great race," said Grace Close '11, who was not in competition after suffering a stress fracture. "She was running against some really fast girls and did really well." "[Katy] had a great weekend, and it was really great to see her break her personal record," said captain Kelley Coughlan '09.

After a long season, it is typical to see the times become more and more similar, but this was not the case over the weekend.

"I felt pretty good going into the weekend," said Magill, "but I guess I did a little better than expected."

While Magill had a more than impressive day, the rest of the team also performed very well. The Panthers only had a small team at the meet this weekend, with the regular season coming to a close a few weeks ago.

For the men, Adam Dede '12 and Michael Schmidt qualified for the meet, with Dede traveling to Boston to compete in the pole vault.

The women sent a larger group of girls although some of the core distance runners, including Close, were not present at the meet, despite qualifying. Becca Fanning '12 ran the 500-meter with Magill and came in with a very solid time of 1:19. Kaitlynn Saldanha '11, who has been having a very strong season and provisionally qualified for nationals in the 600-meter run, came in at 2:15 in the 800-meter run, finishing in the top 10. Jen Brenes '09 and Mia Martinez '12 both had solid performances in the 55-meter hurdles, with times of 8.68 and 9.16 seconds, respectively.

The women's distance medley had a personal record on the day, coming in 10 seconds faster than their previous time with a finish of 12:25. This finish gave them eighth-place against a tough field and gave the Panthers their sole point for the meet.

From here, the team continues to look to the spring season and the spring trip to San Diego, where the Panthers kick off competition.

"Everyone is doing really well at this point," said Magill. "We're training really well and our freshmen look really strong."

Next weekend are the ECAC's, and the Panthers will be sending Dede, Coughlan, and Saldanha to compete.