University of Massachusets Athletics

Women's Indoor Track & Field 2000 Preview :: Minutewomen look to unite the Atlantic 10 titles.

 
 
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Women's Indoor Track & Field 2000 Preview

Minutewomen look to unite the Atlantic 10 titles.

Jan. 1, 2000

Great balance and strength in numbers. This is exactly what the 1999-2000 version of the UMass women?s track & field team will bring to every meet. This year?s team returns all but seven members of a squad that won the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships and placed second in the Indoor Championships last year. The Minutewomen did lose some outstanding individual performers from last year?s team, but return a talented and experienced squad. ?We have a real good balance this year, we have quality athletes in every event which is always a primary goal for our program,? said Coach Julie LaFreniere. This balanced attack has been the key to winning three Atlantic 10 titles in the past four years and has allowed the Minutewomen to finish first or second in every A-10 Championships since the event started in 1993. After winning a fifth straight Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championship earlier this year, a good indoor season could put the Minutewomen in position to do something that no other team has done before, win all three Atlantic 10 track and cross country titles in one year.

Multi-Event Juniors Andrea Comeau and Melissa Ward will return as two of the top overall performers in school history. Comeau owns the best pentathlon (3658) and heptathlon (4800) scores in school history while Ward is on her heels in third place (3326) in the pentathlon and second in the heptathlon (4516). Comeau ranks in the top five all-time in five different individual events in addition to the pentathlon and heptathlon. She owns both the indoor (5? 10.5?) and outdoor (5? 8?) high jump records, as well as a top five all-time finish in both the 55 and 100 meter hurdles and in the 500 meters. Ward ranks third all-time on the indoor high jump charts (5? 4.5?), and fourth in the outdoor triple jump (37? 10.5?) in addition to her top-five performances in the heptathlon and pentathlon. Comeau and Ward will also get some help from a pair of underclassmen. Sophomore Johanna Lelke recorded scores of 2574 in the pentathlon and 3753 in the heptathlon last year. Freshman Crystal Therrien has the potential to make an impact right away in the hurdle events and in the pentathlon.

Hurdles and Sprints The hurdles and sprinting events were hurt the most by graduation. The Minutewomen will have to compensate for the loss of the best hurdler in school history, Rose Bryan. Bryan owns the school record in both the 55 and 100 meter hurdles. Comeau and junior Chrystal Murphy are eager to break out of Bryan?s shadow. Murphy holds the third fastest 100 meter hurdle time and the fifth fastest 55 meter hurdle time in UMass history. The sprinters will also have to face the challenge of replacing a UMass legend in Shelanda Irish. Irish is the all-time record holder in the indoor 200 meters and in the long jump. Irish finished her career ranked in UMass? top five in six different individual events. Sophomore Abby Rubino is the leader of this year?s sprinting squad. Rubino posted the third fastest 100 meter time in school history (12.12) as a freshman at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships, good for fourth place in the meet. Sophomores Kate Toye and Taneka Miller will both return with a year of experience. Toye is the younger sister of storied UMass sprinter Tom Toye and contributed last year in the 55, 100, 200 and 400 meters. Miller returns as the top 400 meter runner after placing eighth last season at the New England Outdoor Championships.

Mid Distance and Distance This year?s distance squad will be the strength of the team. Senior Sally Hirsch hopes to dominate the long distance events again this year. Hirsch set a new Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championship meet record last season in the 5,000 meters (17:22.68), and placed second in the 3,000 meters at the New England Championships. Sophomore Kristin Cisowski will also look to continue her success on the track after another outstanding cross country season. The 1998 Atlantic 10 cross country Rookie of the Year and individual champion transferred her success to the track well last season, finishing with two top-five performances at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships in the 800 meters and the mile. During the outdoor season, she again posted top-five performances in the Atlantic 10 Championships, this time in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters. Junior Melissa Henderson also returns to the distance squad. The three-time All-Atlantic 10 Cross Country selection placed in the top six last season in the 3,000 at both the indoor and outdoor Atlantic 10 Championships. Senior Elizabeth Sheptyck will run the 5,000 and 10,000 meters again this year after a second place showing in the 10,000 meters at the New England Outdoor Championships last year. Joining Sheptyck in the 10,000 meters will be Sharon Tillotson. Tillotson earned a fifth place showing in the event at both the New England and Atlantic 10 Championships last spring.

Jumps Rubino will be counted on to be the team?s top long jumper this season after the graduation of Irish and Bryan. Rubino turned in the fifth best jump in UMass history last season at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships, placing third. The women have a very talented group of triple jumpers returning to replace Bryan. Junior Erin Hankard finished seventh at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships last season while also concentrating on five other events over the course of the season. Sophomore Tiffany Chaplin will make an impact in the jumps this season after struggling through injuries all last year. Chaplin was never quite 100 percent last season but still managed an eighth place finish in the triple jump at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships. Hankard and Chaplin will be joined by Ward in the triple jump. The pole vault should be another exciting event for the Minutewomen. The team returns three outstanding sophomores that all placed in the top five at both the indoor and outdoor Atlantic 10 Championships as freshmen. Rhianna DaCruz, Johanna Lelke and Heather Palmer all qualified for the New England Championship and the ECAC?s last season in their first full year of pole vaulting. Lelke holds the school indoor record (10? 0.5?), and DaCruz claims the outdoor mark (10? 6.25?). Throws Junior Carole LaPlante and senior Alison Tostevin are quickly developing into the best shot put performers in school history. LaPlante broke the indoor school record last season (43? 0.5?), while ranking third on the all-time outdoor charts (42? 2?). Last season, Tostevin charted the fourth best outdoor shot performance in history (41? 10.75?) and also ranks fifth on the all-time outdoor discus chart (128? 11?). LaPlante finished sixth in the shot put last season at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships, while Tostevin placed fourth. The weight throw duties during the indoor season will rest with senior Giselle Nicholas and junior Shannon Hamilton. Nicholas became just the fourth woman in UMass history to eclipse the 50? mark last season at the Atlantic 10 Championships with a throw of 50? 4?, good for second place in the meet. Hamilton placed seventh in the conference meet last year in the weight throw. Both will also do the majority of the hammer throwing this year during the outdoor season. Nicholas placed second and Hamilton placed eighth last season at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships in the hammer. The team also returns a trio of the best javelin throwers around. Junior Sharyn Harrison and sophomores Neille-Ann Giffune and DaCruz all finished in the top five at last season?s Atlantic 10 Championships. Harrison placed third at the conference meet and fourth at the New England Championships. Joining the throwing squad for the outdoor season will be freshman Maggie Curry. At Mukwonago High School in Wisconsin, Curry set a school record in the discus with a throw of 146? 4?, and also threw the shot 37? 10?. She is also a member of the UMass swimming squad and will contribute immediately in the discus after the swimming season ends.

Schedule The Minutewomen will compete in a grueling schedule again this year, opening the indoor season at the Brown Invitational in December. The team then competes in five meets starting January 14, in preparation for the Atlantic 10 Championships on February 19th in Kingston, R.I. The team will compete in the New England Championships the following week in Gorham, Maine before the ECAC?s in Boston. The outdoor schedule is no less challenging. The team has six meets scheduled in the month of April, including the highly competitive Penn Relays with some of the best teams in the country. The team will look to repeat as Atlantic 10 Champions on May 6-7 at Virginia Tech, before competing in the New England Championships in Dedham, Mass. The team has been able to win two-thirds of the Atlantic 10 Championships in both of the last two years, winning both the cross country title and either the indoor title (1997-98) or the outdoor title (1999). The Minutewomen have already claimed the cross country championship this season and will try to unite the three titles for the first time in Atlantic 10 history.