USATF New Englands - GBTC Dominates, Club Records Come Down, Nat'l Qualifiers

Gretchen Chick en route to a PR and 4th place in the 5k

June 17 2007 - MIT, Cambridge, MA - USATF New England Championships

Dacia Taylor takes down the 100 and 200 club records with her 11.98 and 24.62 for two personal bests. Christine Kloiber just missed a Club Nat'l qualifying mark, might have been the blocks left in her lane at 300m, yet still ran a personal best 60.49. Caroline Occean in her first 800 of the season ran 2:12.39. Jen Lee just back from a trip to Tibet opened her season decently with a 2:18.87 with limited speed work. Allison McCabe improves by 5 seconds in the 1500 with a 4:33.16 and beats out two of her old CPTC athletes. Katie Famous breaks 5 minutes to qualify for Club Nationals. Tara Vance joined Katie and Christy Bonstelle in the 3k for team points, scooping up 2nd, 3rd and 4th. New member Maria Millard of Amherst debuts with the club in the 400IHurdle and breaks the GBTC record in 63.50. Maria threw her hat in the HJ, and helped GBTC score all 10 points, Jen Hawkes scoring first in 5ft5, with support from Tessa Donoghue, behind unattached Jen Harlow. In the Long Jump, GBTC women went 1-2-3 and in triple 1-2 with Yetsa Tuakli-Worsornu's debut in her first club open event (2nd in LJ). Stacey Connor wins Disc and picks up the shot this week in practice to take the win. And the GBTC walked away with wins in the warmup 4x1 and cool down 4x4 (4:03) as well. Sherita Williams tuned up in the long jump and triple jump with double victories, after yesterday's USATF CT meet where she posted a club record and provisional USATF National Long Jump qualifier (6.37m) to add to her TJ automatic.

The men also had a good day, new member Darius Walker of Lexington H.S. won both the 100 (10.48) and 200 (21.22) and plans to represent GBTC this summer. Kwesi Frimpong-Boateng off of a very very short warmup ran a season best 10.64 for 1st scoring while Ray Smith after 6 long jumps finished 3rd scoring with an 11.25, just off the qualifying 11.0 mark but likely earning relay duty. 17 year old Nick Colantuono of Lincoln-Sudbury debuted for GBTC in the 400 (51.38) and 200 (22.95) contributing 3 points in the effort. Dave Cahill snuck in 2 points in the 400 with a 51.35 out of the other section. Andie Colon was the 1st N.E. scorer in the 800 with his 1:55.67. Watts and Whalen make improvements in 800. Ted Breen and Brad Kozel scoop up 3 points while Andrew Wommack makes his track debut. David Bedoya wins the 3k and tops the 2007 club list with his 9:13.16. Bill Newsham adds 2 points in the 3k after running the open 800 earlier. In the hot weather, Kibrom and Brennan are the first two men across the line the 5K, both in 15:30. Dan Conti posts a Club National qualifier and joins LeMaire for the 1-2 finish. Francis Shen and Jason Weber pick up 1-2 in the Intermediates, Weber with a PR. Jason Hewitt wins the Steeple still recovering from a nasty chest cold and the GBTC men's team takes first in both 4x1 and 4x4. Dan Conti vaulted to first place scoring, a tie for 2nd overall, while Ryan Quiller's brother Rory cleared 17' with a 5 step approach and 15ft pole. Unfortunately, coming back from NCAA, Rory's poles were run over in shipment and thus today became practice. Ray Smith cranks out a big win in the long jump, as season best 7.20m, and is looking good for Club Nationals. In the shot put, Dan Conti tallies 5 more N.E. points, Jeremy Racine pulls in 6 points between the Javelin and the Discus, while Mike Randall is looking sharp once again hitting 52.00m in the javelin. Both Dave Bergeron (61m) and Drew Soltysiak (56.79m) in the javelin both plan to add their arms to the GBTC squad.

Update: a few photos available here
Full results: here