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Runners finish with 4 NCAA qualifying marks

A crew of six distance runners traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., this weekend and finished with three provisional qualifying times and one automatic berth for the NCAA Outdoor Championships to be held May 31 in Durham, N.C.

The lone automatic berth was posted by sophomore Tara Chaplin, who bested her personal record by 50 seconds in the 10,000 meters. The time of 34 minutes 35.11 seconds ranks as the seventh best time in Pacific 10 Conference history and is second all-time in UA history behind Amy Skieresz's 32:31.65.

"It was a big PR," said Chaplin, referring to her personal record. "I think I'm finally figuring out how to run the event. I knew I would be able to run a lot faster than last year."

Chaplin's fellow running mate, junior Katrin Engelen, also notched a career best time in the 10,000m and provisionally qualified for the event in a time of 34:37.65.

More suprising than the accomplishment of Chaplin was turned in by fellow sophomore Mike Cramer. Also competing in the 10,000m, Cramer set a new personal record by shaving 35 seconds off his previous mark with a time of 29:46.16.

While this was the only second time he's run the race, Cramer said he felt good about his performance.

"It's a good start, since the next time I'll run it again will be the Pac-10,"said Cramer. "I'm not completely suprised, but it's nice to get the provisional mark."

Teammate junior David Lopez also praised Cramer for his inpiring performance.

"He ran really well and stood out in my mind," said Lopez.

Lopez was running his first meet since coming back from a hamstring injury and didn't post as good of a time as he would have liked.

"It wasn't bad, but I wasn't to happy with it, I guess it was alright. I'm just trying to catch up from my injuries," he said.

All together the six Wildcats finished the weekend with five members coming home with new personal records.

Joining Chaplin, Engelen and Cramer in this feat were sophomore Steve Smith in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 9:03.03, and senior Jeremy Lyon, who ran a time of 8:52.65 which is also a NCAA provisional time.

While the the six distance runners were competing in the Stanford Invitational, the rest of the Wildcat Track Team were preparing for this week's Jim Click Shootout to be held in Roy P. Drachman Stadium on Saturday.