Post race video interview with Lauren Philbrook
MARIETTA, OH. -- Williams College senior Lauren Philbrook had the last event of the first day of the 2009 NCAA Div. III Outdoor Track & Field Championship Meet and she made it count, running to a national title in the 10,000-meter race.
Philbrook came into the event seeded first and lived up to that billing, setting a Don Drumm Stadium -- the home track of host Marietta College -- record with a time of 35 minutes, 24.78 seconds.
Philbrook's time was nearly 24 full seconds ahead of runner-up Stephanie McNamara of Tufts University, who finished second with a time of 35:46.62. Philbrook's time broke the old stadium record by over three minutes.
The finish by Philbrook allowed the Ephs to finish Day 1 at nationals in a tie for third place with 10 points.
Also on the women's side of the ledger, Williams junior Olga Kondratjeva advanced to the final of the 1,500-meter run Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Kondratjeva finished sixth in her heat of the trials Thursday with a time of 4:37.70. She had the ninth fasest time overall among all the heats and will be one of 12 competitors in the finals Saturday.
On the men's side, senior Macklin Chaffee and the Ephs 4x400 relay team advanced to the finals of their respective events Saturday.
The 4x400 team of Taylor Fitzgerald, Alex Hoerman, Viktor Nagy and Deividas Seferis won their heat, the second of three, in 3:13.41. That was the third fastest time -- in the trials -- of the eight relays which qualified for the finals, which will take place Saturday at 4:45 p.m.
Likewise, Chaffee won his heat of the 1,500-meter run. Chaffee's time of 3:54.25 was the ninth-best time out of the two heats and gives him a chance to score for the Ephs come Saturday's final, which begins at 1:20 p.m.
Williams senior Brendan Christian participated in the 10,000-meter run for the Ephs and finished 13th out of 16 runners with a time of 31:52.94.
