Seven NESCAC Student-Athletes Earn Individual Honors at 2009 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships

Courtesy Amherst/Connecticut College/Hamilton/Tufts Sports Information

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Seven student-athletes representing four different NESCAC teams took top honors at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships hosted by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology over the weekend.

Amherst senior Elise Tropiano (Plainview, N.Y.) finished first in the 5,000-meter run for her first national title. Tropiano had placed seventh at the indoor national championships as a sophomore and again as a junior, earning All-America honors each time, but she saved her best performance for her senior season. Her time of 17:09.45 as a sophomore came at Rose-Hulman, while her 17:30.89 last year took place at Ohio Northern. This year, Tropiano returned to Rose-Hulman and was the lone runner to finish under the 17-minute mark (16:58.84), edging Stephanie McNamara of Tufts University by nearly four seconds (17:02.76).

The Tufts women's Distance Medley Relay relay team repeated as the NCAA champion after the 2009 Jumbo foursome of sophomore Amy Wilfert (Westborough, Mass.), senior Halsey Stebbins (Chicago, Ill.), senior tri-captain Jackie Ferry (Studio City, Calif.) and sophomore Stephanie McNamara (North Attleborough, Mass.) ran an 11:46.88 time at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Friday night. The Tufts team edged University of St. Thomas at the finish line by 0.08 seconds.

The back-to-back DMR titles continue the legacy of national champions established by Tufts women's track. Dating back to Vera Stenhouse's eight national titles from 1989-91, Jumbos have now won 15 titles at NCAA Championship indoor and outdoor events.

Connecticut College junior Alex Samma (Ougadougou, Burkina Faso) covered a distance of 49 feet, 5 and one half of an inch (15.07 meters) to win the NCAA Championship in the Triple Jump. It was the first time in five years that a Connecticut College student-athlete had earned an NCAA title.

Christopher Newport University senior Isaac Bell (Yorktown, Va.) was the closest competitor in the field, finishing 12 inches (.30 meters) behind Samma as the runner-up. Samma shattered his previous school mark by nine and one quarter of an inch. He is the first NCAA Champion for the Connecticut College track and field program. Connecticut College Athletic Hall of Fame Member Dave Barron ´94 was the runner up in the weight throw at the 1994 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship.

Hamilton junior Peter Kosgei (Kapsabet, Kenya) won the mile run at the NCAA championships. The national title is the seventh overall for Kosgei, and his third in indoor track and field. Kosgei took first place with a school-record time of 4:08.58. The next finisher in the event crossed the line in 4:09.30. Kosgei also held the previous school record in the event with a time of 4:09.31.

Kosgei captured national titles and All-America honors in the 800-meter run and the mile at the 2008 NCAA indoor meet.