Freshman distance runner Molly Hanson ended her first indoor season by setting the Marquette freshman record in the mile on Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational. Her time of 4:48.79 was good enough for 10th on the day. The day’s two fastest runners, Notre Dame’s Rebecca Tracy (4:33.53) and Virginia’s Vicky Fouhy (4:34.87), punched their tickets to Fayetteville for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Hanson was the top freshman finisher on the day and ranked 18th in the nation for her class. If she continues to improve at the rate she did in 2013 coach Bert Rogers believes she could be in contention for a Sweet Sixteen spot in the near future.
“For outdoors, the goal would be to qualify for the first round of NCAA Regionals,” Rogers said. “In the indoor season, to get in the top 16 that’s pretty elite, but I don’t think that’s a longer-term goal that is outside of Molly’s realm of reality.”
Hanson’s time also moved her up to third on Marquette’s all-time freshman list, where she now only trails Cassie Peller’s 4:46.00 and Michaela Courtney’s 4:43.07. Peller previously held the freshman record and was in attendance at Notre Dame’s Loftus Center Saturday.
“I looked at it as a last chance to break 2:50 and I did, so I was excited about that,” Hanson said. “I was also excited to break the freshman record with Cassie there for support. She was a really successful runner, so I think it was a big accomplishment to get that record.”
Redshirt junior Spencer Agnew headed to South Bend with the goal of running the mile in the 4:10 range. He did just that by setting a personal best of 4:10.39 for the 11th-best mark in Marquette history. He finished 25th overall, but his fitness is at an all-time high.
“Spencer is feeling confident about himself and running very well,” Rogers said. “He’s a guy who has had his share of injuries over the years, so it’s nice to see him have some success.”
Senior Kyle Winter needed to set a personal best by two seconds in the 800-meter run to secure an NCAA Championship berth. He was unable to do so, but still ran his second-fastest 800 in a Marquette uniform, while trying out a new race plan.
“The goal was to come through the quarter mile in about 52-high or 53-low. I think he was 52.9, so he came through the 600 right where we wanted him to be, with the goal of running 1:49 or breaking that,” Rogers said. “He just quite didn’t have it over the last 200 and tired up a little bit.”
Cheldon Brown was not able to record a clean mark in the high jump. The opening mark at Notre Dame was a centimeter below his indoor personal best. He ends his season with a season-best of 2.06 meters, which is .02 better than his finish in 2012.
“(Cheldon) had a couple nice attempts. I don’t think he walked away feeling bad about it,” Rogers said. “I think we head into outdoors feeling pretty strong.”
Marquette’s last NCAA indoor qualifier was Courtney’s 2006 mile run. Without anyone headed to Fayetteville, the indoor season has come to an end. The Golden Eagles will begin the outdoor campaign on March 14th with the USF Bulls Invitational in Tampa, Fla.
A season preview will be in Thursday’s issue of the Marquette Tribune.
