By Mark Barroso
Correspondent
The College’s men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams capped the 2011 season with strong performances in two different competitions.
The season-long quest for national credibility continued on March 4 when the Lions competed in the two-day ECAC Championships.
“Doing well at ECACs provides a sense of confidence before the NCAAs,” senior Kyle Gilroy said. “Since the ECAC is a powerful conference, racers get a good look at national caliber.”
The men placed third at the ECACs, scoring 45.5 points, trailing Bates College and Buffalo State College.
Gilroy won the 55-meter hurdles, running an NCAA qualifying time of 7.51 seconds.
Senior Dennie Waite placed second in the mile run with an NCAA provisional time of 4:10.88.
The 2011 New Jersey Athletic Conference Most Outstanding Player of the Year, junior Christopher Medina, placed fourth in the 55-meter dash with an NCAA provisional time of 6.46 seconds.
The women’s team won the ECAC Championship by scoring 58 team points.
Senior Miriam Khan won the 200-meter with a time of 24.70 seconds. She placed second in the 55-meter dash posting a time of 7.21 seconds.
Classmate Meryl Wimberley placed third in the 400- meter with an NCAA provisional time of 57.83 seconds.
On March 12, the Lions took an eight-hour bus ride to Columbus, Ohio for the NCAA Indoor Division III Track and Field Championships.
The men’s team tied for 15th place by scoring 10 points.
Gilroy took home third place in the finals of the 55-meter hurdles running a time of 7.48 seconds, a new school record. He repeated as an All-America honoree.
Waite also earned All-America honors after placing fifth overall in the finals with a time of 4:16.68.
The women placed ninth overall with 17 points.
Senior Alexandra Tomaselli, freshman Emily Kulcyk and juniors Katie Nestor and Alyssa Bannon, placed eighth in the 200-meter distance medley posting a time of 12:12.52, which garnered them All-America honors.
“We all knew we deserved that award and I was glad I was part of the relay with those three other girls,” Kulyck said of her first All-America citation. “We knew we would have to work hard at it and everyone left it all on the track when we were finished.”
Wimberley earned All-America honors by placing third in the 800-meter finals with a time of 2:12:33.
Khan came in fifth place in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.18 seconds, earning her All-America honors.
Freshman Brigit Roemer cleared a height of five and a half feet in her NCAA debut, which was enough to earn her first All-America citation and third place overall.
