Mullarkey, Schiller Golden at CC Indoor Championships
HAVERFORD, Pa. -- Garnet sophomore Cait Mullarkey and senior Matt Schiller picked up gold medals as both Swarthmore indoor track & field teams finished eighth at the 2007 Centennial Conference Championships Sunday afternoon in Alumni Field House on the campus of Haverford College.
Haverford swept both the men's and women's competition; the men collected 168 points, followed by Ursinus (101), Dickinson (100), Muhlenberg (79), Gettysburg (77), Johns Hopkins (58), F&M (45), Swarthmore (27), and McDaniel (8). On the women's side, the Fords gathered 178 points, followed by Johns Hopkins (98), Muhlenberg (97.5), Gettysburg (75), Dickinson (70.5), F&M (39.5), Bryn Mawr (30), Swarthmore (26), McDaniel (25.5), and Ursinus (23).
Mullarkey, a two-time All-Centennial first-team selection in soccer, continued to make her case as one of the best athletes in Conference history. The sophomore out-ran three Haverford women to win the 800-meter race with a time of 2:21.02. Imo Akpan '02 was the last Swarthmore female to win an individual CC indoor gold, claiming four at the 2002 Conference meet on her way to being named the 2002 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Indoor Athlete of the Year.
Schiller won his first Centennial gold medal by posting the best time at 400 meters (51.86), besting Ryan Keane from Gettysburg (52.07) and Ryan Daniel of Dickinson (52.10). Schiller is the first Swarthmore male to win an individual gold at the CC Indoor Championship meet since Marc Jeuland '01 won the 5,000 in 2001.
The Garnet men had three performers make the top-20 in the 3,000; junior Ross Weller ran fifth with at top-ten time of 8:50.12, sophomore Erik Saka was 14th in a time of 8:59.12, and junior Jon Shoop ran 17th in 9:00.92.
The Swarthmore men's 4x400 relay team, led by a strong leg from junior Michael Bonesteel, picked up seventh place while the men's 4x800 relay squad also pointed with an eighth-place finish.
Freshman Nyika Corbett, who ran seventh in the mile on Saturday, just missed a medal at 3,000 meters with a fourth-place time of 10:40.77. Sophomore Bess Ritter continued her strong Championship meet, running 14th in the same event with at time of 10:57.13.