Placing eighth, the team saw some great individual performances but did not earn enough points to be a real threat on the scoreboard.

“This year was an improvement from last year,” said women’s track and field coach Chris Daymont. “Last year, we finished around tenth.”

Though the team would have liked to crack into the top five, bad luck caused some events to favor other teams, even after a season of hard work.

“We finished around Carleton and St. Ben’s, so that was okay, but overall we just had a few too many mistakes,”Kezia Manlove, ’06 said. “The MIAC was a really great learning experience though, for a lot of first years who were running with seniors.”

Britt Schwager ’07 noted the mistakes made, including a trip during the 800-meter run that cost the team points.”

“We had some trip-ups, literally, and without any superstars, we were unable to score big points,” she said.

The team could celebrate a few group performances especially placing fourth in the 400-meter relay and fifth in the distance medley, but it was a few team members that really made the weekend memorable.

Runner Manlove finished strong in the 1000-meter run with a time of 3:04.16.

Elizabeth Ghandour ‘06 won the pole vault after jumping 11'-2 1¼4.”

The lone Ole to qualifty for Nationals was Stacy Grifffin ’07, who finished fifth in the shot put at Carleton, but won the weight throw with a provisional composite of 50’-10.”

“Stacy just had a great event,” Daymont said. “She deserves to go to nationals. She’s had a great season in the weight throw and the shot put.”

Griffin’s teammates agree with Daymont’s understanding of her performance.

“I’ve never seen her so focused,” said Schwager. “She’s normally very humble, but after she won, after battling a girl the whole meet, humble Stacy did a victory dance. It was great.”

The team now focuses on outdoor conferences to finish out the track and field year.

“This is a nice midpoint to regroup,” Manlove said.

Schwager is also moving on from the MIAC Championships.

“Everyone went out and did what they could do, without regrets,” Schwager said. “Though we were unable to score points, our depth as a team was evident by the number of athletes we had competing in conference. I would rather have a team than a superstar.”

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