Nine of the 13 athletes who competed for the Rensselaer women’s track and field team in the New York State Collegiate Track Conference Outdoor Championships at the University of Rochester on May 7 tallied points as the Engineers compiled 102 team points en route to a fourth place finish. Ithaca took the state crown with 135 points, defeating SUNY Geneseo by just four points.
The women’s team was, according to Rensselaer Head Coach Colin Tory, at the top of their game as the Engineers averaged more than 10 points per athlete. The women’s team had similar success in the indoor track team where six of the nine qualifying RPI competitors scored points.
“We don’t have the same depth as we do on the men’s side, but the quality of athlete is right there.” Tory said of his women’s program. “The ones we do have are amazing. We have a very solid group.”
The 400-meter hurdles, the shot put, and the 4x400-meter and 4x100-meter relays were events where the Engineers particularly shined. Sophomore Jennifer Dias and senior Rebecca Lock finished first and second, respectively, in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, and the two teamed with freshman Marion Albert and senior Alysia Evanitsky to win the 4x400-meter relay by four seconds. The quartet’s time of 3:55.56 seconds also provisionally qualified them for the NCAA Championship meet.
Sophomore Sue Madden and freshman Marissa Hecker also took the top two spots in the shot put while Dias, Albert, Evanitsky, and sophomore Carol Scalice put together a 49.28 second performance to win the 4x100-meter relay.
“It was a real highlight to do so well in the relays,” Tory said. “The 4x400 was not a contest, the team was really dominant—to sweep the relays was unexpected.”
Tory would go on to say the relay teams’ performances helped jump start his team. It certainly fired up Scalice as the relay was just the beginning of a phenomenal day for the Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., native. Scalice won the long jump and 200-meter sprint in impressive fashion and took a respectable fourth in the 100-meter dash.
Other point scores included Lock with a fourth place finish in the 110-meter high hurdles; Evanitsky was runner-up in the 400-meter, and senior Heather Maffei took fifth in the discus throw.
In the ECAC meet at Springfield, Mass. on May 20 the Engineers continued to improve on their state performance. Dias and Lock again finished one and two in the 400-meter hurdles, the 4x400 team bettered their previous time to win the race, and Scalice was second in the long jump. Dias, Lock, and Scalice qualified for the NCAA Championship meet in Waverly, Iowa May 26 through May 28.
The 4x400 team made the NCAA’s provisional qualifying time, but missed the cut, and failed to qualify for the national meet.
“It was disappointing,” Tory said of the relay team just missing the NCAA Championships. “We were really hoping we’d make it. They ran their fastest time at the end of the year, and that’s really all you can ask.”
Dias made sure the Engineers trip to America’s Heartland would not be wasted as she completed the 400-meter hurdles in 62.39 which landed her in the top eight and made her an All-American for the second straight year. Lock and Scalice could not match Dias’ success, but Lock is currently up for another national recognition.
An Ellsworth, Maine native, Lock’s 3.97 grade-point-average as a dual major in biophysics and biochemistry has landed her on the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 1 College Division Track & Field/Cross Country First Teams. This nominates the senior for the Academic All-American honor, one which her coach believes she deserves and will receive.
“Becky has just been phenomenal her whole career,” Tory said. “She has gotten it done both athletically and academically for four years.”
Unfortunately for RPI, Lock will be heading to the University of California-San Francisco to join their biomedical program. She, along with Maffei and Evanitsky, will sum up a small, but valuable, graduating class.
“They are all solid and we will certainly miss them,” Tory said. Two of the three—Lock and Evanitsky—were members of the stellar 4x400 team, a fact the four-year Rensselaer Head Coach finds both disturbing and exciting.
Tory says the Engineers and the relay teams’ national recognition have helped make RPI a little more attractive destination for talented female athletes, and with two available spots on a stellar relay team it gives freshmen the chance to make an immediate impact.
“There’s an opportunity there for anyone,” Tory said. “We may be losing just three seniors, but it is motivation to have the chance to grab a spot on a national relay team.”
