Relay team breaks record during Belles' third place finish
By KATIE MCVOY
Assistant Sports Editor
The Saint Mary's track team, which will be dissolved next year, refuses to go quietly into the night. The Belles are going out to run and they are running away with new records.
During Saturday's meet at Huntington College, all 10 women who competed placed, with the Saint Mary's eight-lap relay team winning and breaking a school record in three minutes, 45 seconds.
"I think the fact that we did really well this meet shows that it's sad we won't have a team anymore," team captain Erica Burket said, "but we're still going to go out there and compete."
Burket was part of the winning relay team along with freshmen Courtney Follmore and Lauren Stoeger and junior Laura Graf. The eight-lap relay in indoor competition is shorter than the 4x400-meter relay that is run in outdoor track, and the women owe their win, in part, to practicing the right distance during the week.
"We had run that same distance interval during the week," Burket said. "So we knew the distance and worked well on it. We knew how fast we had to go."
"Everyone just put their mind to [winning]," team captain Kara Bergman added.
The previous eight-lap relay record was a 1994 time of 3:50.
In addition to the first place eight-lap relay finish, five Saint Mary's women went home with a top-three finish. The Belles finished in third place, only five points behind second place Goshen.
"I'm so happy for the whole entire team," Bergman said.
Marian College placed fourth in the meet, 24 points behind the Belles' 36.
Saint Mary's cleaned up in the 55-meter races. The Belles went one-two in the 55-meter hurdles and grabbed fourth place in the 55-meter dash.
Burket crossed the finish line of the 55-meter hurdles first, with a time of 9.22 seconds, and Stoeger was right behind her in 9.77.
In long distance events, Graf won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:18, breaking the indoor track record set earlier this season.
Freshmen Nicole Garcia took home a third place finish in the 1600-meter crossing the line in 6:09.
The Belles also placed eight women in field events, five in jumping events.
Freshman Becky Shrepkowski won out in the triple jump, with a jump of 32 feet, 4 inches, also placing fourth in the long jump in 15-6 1/4. Her long jump was only 1/4 inch short of Burket's school record.
Junior Akmaral Omarova also placed fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 27-1/4.
Freshman Kemi Adebamowo took a fourth place finish in the shot put with a throw of 26-1. Bergman and Stoeger tied for fifth place with throws of 24-1.
Pole-vaulter Jaclyn Thompson attended the meet, but could not participate due to an ankle injury.
This meet was the last indoor meet for the Belles before they start outdoor competition in March. The team believes that this performance will be a springboard to a good outdoor season.
"I think everybody feels really good, considering [the team's dissolution]," Bergman said. "Everybody is really excited for outdoor and really looking forward to it."
When MIAA competition starts, Saint Mary's will be running in small meets similar to Saturday's contest.
"I definitely think [this meet] is a good indicator of how our season is going to go," Bergman said. "It was a smaller meet and smaller teams, and that is how the MIAA is."
The team's first outdoor meet is at the Wabash Invitational on Mar. 17.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 26, 2001
