Belles' Graf sets record in 800 meter
By KATIE MCVOY
Assistant Sports Editor
It was another red letter day for junior Laura Graf as she broke the second Saint Mary's school indoor track record of her career at the University of Chicago five-team meet on Saturday.
Graf led the Belles with a record-breaking two-minute, 20.32 second 800-meter run, taking second place in the event. She left the event with team support and self-satisfaction.
"We were really happy with Laura," team captain Kara Bergeman said.
"I felt good," Graf said of her performance. "It was a nice facility and a nice meet. It was fun to go out there and try to break some records."
Graf's time broke a record set in 1997 by over six seconds by Kelly Tutko, who ran the race in 2:26.89.
Saturday's meet marked only the second in Graf's career as a Belle. She transferred to Saint Mary's from Augustana College in South Dakota earlier this year.
So far, she has been successful.
Two weeks ago at the Lewis Invitational, Graf broke another school indoor track record in the 400-meter dash. Her time of 60.08 shattered a 10-year-old record held by Heidi Finniff by more than four seconds.
"[The women on the team] are all very supportive," Graf said. "I hear them cheering for me when I run."
Junior captain Erica Burkett also placed in the meet. She finished in sixth place in both the 55-meter hurdles and the triple jump.
Bergeman was happy with the weekend's results.
"I thing we did really well," she said. "We all set our own goals and we all look to do better than ourselves."
The team may have felt differently, however.
"The team overall was a little bit disappointed," Bergeman said. "But it was really person-specific as to whether we were happy with our performance."
Five women participated in the meet at Chicago, although nine attended.
Injuries during the last week prevented several women from participating in the meet.
"We're still training," Graf said. "We're using the [indoor] meets really as training for the outdoor season."
The track team will participate in one more indoor meet at the Huntington Invitational in two weeks.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 12, 2001
