Saunders, Lapetoda running to ECACs

Women's Track and Field

Christopher Labzda / senior photographer Senior Jennifer Lapetoda, left, and sophomore Shannon Saunders run a few laps last week in practice.

JMU will send an elite group of track and field athletes — headlined by distance runners sophomore Shannon Saunders and senior Jennifer Lapetoda — to represent the Dukes at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships in Boston this weekend.

The trip to the ECACs will be the fifth for Lapetoda in her JMU career, and she qualified to compete in the 3,000 meters, the 5,000 meters and the distance medley relay.

"Although I did not have specific goals at the beginning of the year, qualifying for the ECACs is a basic goal that I have," Lapetoda said. "I will probably only run the 5,000 because I believe I can drop more time in that."

For Saunders, competing in the 5,000 meters will mark her first trip to the ECAC meet.

"My goal has been to improve my time in the 5K," Saunders said. "I'm hoping to have a solid race and come as close as I can to running a personal best time."

Participants in the ECAC Track and Field Championships are chosen based upon a qualifying standard time in each individual and relay event. Lapetoda qualified in the 5,000 meters at the Pennsylvania State University Women's Track Meet in late January, where she won the race en route to a personal best time of 17:09.25.

Two weeks later, Lapetoda teamed up with sophomore Nelly Anderson, junior Sarah Kirtland and senior Catherine Seguin to win the distance medley relay in the New Balance Games at the Armory Track and Field Center in New York City. The victory qualified the entire relay team for the ECAC Championships.

"The ECAC meet is important," Lapetoda said. "It allows you to see your teammates compete at a higher level."

For Saunders, her road to the ECACs began with a personal best in the 5,000 meters at Penn State, where she missed the qualifying time by only three one-hundredths of a second. After that near miss, Saunders achieved her spot in the ECAC meet after strong race at the New Balance Games. She shattered her recently set personal best by over 25 seconds, finishing in 17:08.52.

"Qualifying for this meet was important for me because it is a goal that I have had since last year," Saunders said. "Last season, I wasn't even close to hitting the qualifying standard. I've come a long way since then."

In addition to being named to the All-Colonial Athletic Association Cross Country team in 2002, that long way now includes a berth in the ECAC championships. Saunders looks at the ECAC meet as an opportunity to lower her personal best time and measure her performance against some of the best distance runners that the East Coast has to offer.

"This gives me one more race to run in with good competition," Saunders said. "It's another shot to try and improve my time."

In addition to Saunders and Lapetoda, several other Dukes' attained individual event qualifier times and will compete at the ECAC meet.

Seguin, Anderson, freshman Adrienne Mayo and seniors LaShaunda Jefferson and Tiffany Hall all met qualifying standards in their events. JMU also will send a 1,600-meter relay team to the meet, in addition to the distance medley relay squad that qualified at the Armory two weeks ago.

"It's nice to watch your teammates grow and get better year after year," Lapetoda said. "This is what we look forward to all indoor season."

The 83rd ECAC Track and Field Championships open Saturday, March 6, at Boston University's Track and Field Pavilion.