Sophomore standout Cassy Goodrich topped two of her own school records last weekend, leading Marquette’s running corps to a highly successful weekend in California.
Goodrich churned out fast times all three days of the trip, first setting the tone Thursday night at Cal State-Los Angeles with a personal best 11.96 in the 100 meters, which ranks No. 5 all-time at Marquette. She then set a new 200-meter record Friday at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific, running 24.18 seconds. She followed that performance with a huge personal and school record of 53.73 seconds in the 400-meter dash Saturday at Long Beach State.
“Cassy had an amazing weekend,” head coach Bert Rogers said. “It’s hard to put one on top of the other but she had three straight days of pretty impressive performances.”
The performances are particularly notable because it’s so early in the season. Rogers said she will continue to get a heavy training workload for the next few weeks before championship season rolls around, which figures to be longer for her as her 400-meter time now ranks 16th in the West Region (the top 48 times qualify).
Goodrich wasn’t the only Golden Eagle to break out fast times in the warm weather. Senior Nicole Ethier became the second woman in Marquette history to crack 2:10 in the 800 meters, going 2:09.96 at Azusa Pacific. Junior Alison Parker was close behind at 2:11.65.
On the men’s side at Azusa Pacific, three sprinters broke 11 seconds in the 100 meters: Karl Tatum (10.93), Brandon Bell (10.95) and Connor Boos (10.96). That trio and Jay Whalen also won the 4×100-meter relay in a No. 2 all-time mark of 41.72. Josh Word, who sat out with an injury, is also part of that group.
“The hope is to be able to do something special at BIG EAST (Championships),” Rogers said of the men’s sprinting core. “On the men’s side, we’ve never won a relay there, so that’s definitely a goal and I think with this group we have a contender.”
In the distance events, sophomore Alec Miller crushed a No. 5 all-time mark in the 1500 meters, running 3:48.17 or the equivalent to about a 4:05 mile. His brother, Aric, finished in an impressive 3:52.55. Seniors Kayla Spencer (17:00.02) and Clare McDonald (17:01.13) ran personal bests in the 5,000 meters Thursday.
Senior Wally Ellenson competed both Thursday and Saturday in the high jump. He won the event at Cal State, clearing 2.10 meters (6 feet, 10.75 inches) as a tune-up for Saturday’s bigger competition at Long Beach State. However, he had trouble on his takeoff throughout the day Saturday on a brand new track surface. Rogers said he slipped on his first attempt at 2.16 meters (7 feet, 1 inch) and crashed into the bar.
“When you’re a high jumper and that happens to you, it’s in your head,” Rogers said. “His next (jump), he still was able to get a decent jump and missed it. His third one, he was over it and just clipped it with his heels … That was a bummer.”
Rogers said he isn’t worried about Ellenson, who just two weeks ago tied his school record of 7 feet, 2.5 inches in colder weather. The remainder of Marquette’s jumpers and runners will pick back up with competition this Saturday at the Illinois Twilight meet. With more warm weather anticipated, Rogers expects jumpers like Dwayne Dash, Terica Harris and Monique Felix to have big marks and Alec Miller to continue his hot pace in a stacked 1500 meter competition.
