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NEW YORK – The Columbia track & field team has seen past, present and future members of the program experience success in the summer of 2011, as Delilah DiCrescenzo '05, Erison Hurtault '07, Lisa Stublic '05, Leighton Spencer '13 and Waverly Neer '15 have all had national and international recognition.
Columbia had two strong performances at the 2011 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which took place in Eugene, Ore., in late June. There, incoming first year Neer won the USA Women’s 3000m Run Junior Final, with a time of 9:16.23, which is the ninth fastest 3000m time in US high school history. Additionally, DiCrescenzo represented Columbia at that meet, with an impressive performance of her own. The former All-American finished third in the women’s 3000m steeplechase senior final, with a time of 9:46.31. Her third place finish qualified her for the USA World Championship team, and she will travel to Daegu, South Korea at the end of the summer to take part in the 2011 IAAF World Championships.
She will not be the only Lion there, as former Ivy League all-stars Hurtault and Stublic will be joining her in different uniforms. Hurtault qualified for the Dominica world championships team again in both the 200m and 400m dashes, and competed for his country this past weekend at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico. He had an outstanding showing, finishing third overall in the 400m dash with a time of 4.593, earning a spot at the World Championships next month.
Stublic will be there, donning the colors of her country of residence, Croatia. Earlier this spring, Stublic won the OMV Linz Marathon, running 2:30.46, breaking her own Croatian national marathon record in the process. She was ten minutes ahead of the next female finisher, and was the fourth overall athlete, including men, to cross the line at the event. With her commanding performance, Stublic assured herself a spot on the 2012 Olympic team, and will competed in Daegu for the Croatian national team at the end of the month.
And in another overlap, a current member of the Columbia cross country/track & field team, Leighton Spencer, took part in the CAAC meet with Hurtault in Puerto Rico. Earlier in the summer, Spencer won the Jamaican national championships in the 5000m. The rising junior won at the National Senior Championships in June, with a time of 16:22.12, and with that performance, was selected to represent Jamaica at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico. There, Spencer improved his time by almost 40 seconds, clocking in at 15:49.76. |