Posted on April 16, 2007
The JMU men’s and women’s track programs can only hope that next weekend’s conference championships in Harrisonburg will see better weather than the Dukes saw on Saturday’s invitational at JMU.
Madison, along with runners, jumpers and throwers from William & Mary and Howard University competed in less-than-desirable weather, battling high winds, steady rains and numbing temperatures.
“It’s a tune-up, either way there’s a plus,” JMU coach Bill Walton said. “If the weather is bad like today [next week], we know we can run in it.”
Although the teams practice on the on-campus facility daily, the meet served as preparation for the Colonial Athletic Association championships.
“Definitely a good warm-up,” freshman Sam Horn said. “[I] finally got a real race on this track and it’s nice to have a meet at home.”
Horn highlighted action in the men’s competition with his first-place finish in the 800-meter race in one minute, 56.74 seconds. JMU benefited by using “rabbits” to pace Horn and the next top three Madison finishers.
Senior Peter Novick ran alongside his freshman teammate, setting the pace for the first 600 meters before dropping off to let the eventual winner finish by himself.
“[It] helped a lot with all this wind,” Horn said of being paced. “To really work with [Novick] made it a little bit easier for me.”
In other men’s competition, redshirt junior C.W. Moran used the 1,500-meter race as a work-out for next weekend’s 10,000-meter finals. By the end of the first lap, Moran had already open up a 20 meter lead and would win the race by more than 50 meters in a 3:54.41. The next top Dukes finisher was senior Josiah Cadle, who crossed the line third in 4:02.94.
Moran has excelled for the Dukes in all three seasons this year, despite having to face the reality that he won’t be running with the JMU men’s track program next year.
“It sucks, but it is what it is,” Moran said of the team being cut. “Worrying about it’s just going to distract you from other things.”
On the women’s side, Walton also got a good showing in the 800-meter run. Sophomore sprinter Renee Lott ran the event for only her second time, but cruised to a first-place finish in 2:21.67. Madison also placed second and third with Lynne Colombo right on Lott’s heels, finishing in 2:22.33.
“[I’m] trying to get a break from my regular race in the 400 and starting to work more at the 800,” Lott said. “I only started running my junior year of high school, so I’m still trying to find my race and, who knows, the 800 might be it.”
In the women’s 200 meter CAA championship hopeful, sophomore Leslie Anderson, made her time of 24.99 seconds look easy. Anderson’s day didn’t stop there, though, as she later anchored her 4x100-meter relay to a winning time of 47.85.
The team lowered its already qualified time for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championships.
“Every day they push me to the point where I can tell and feel that I’m getting faster,” Anderson said of her team.
The invitational style meet was not scored because the weather prevented more teams from showing. JMU was able to use the day to get used to the track conditions as they will host the conference championships this coming Friday and Saturday.
