SIMONIS TOP PERFORMER AT CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP

Joanna Simonis '05 was named Most Outstanding Track Performer as she led the Bryn Mawr Track and Field Team to a sixth-place finish at the Centennial Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Dickinson College last weekend. Simonis is the first Bryn Mawr scholar-athlete to receive this honor.

Simonis won the 800 meters in a time of 2:17.34 to capture the Championship Meet record. She captured a share of another meet record as she anchored the winning distance medley relay. The relay team of Melissa Leedle '05, Ashley Dawkins '08, Joy Racowski '05 and Simonis ran away from the field, finishing 20 seconds ahead of the second-place team in a time of 12:28.37 to break the meet record.

The same four women emerged victorious in a dramatic 4 x 800-meter relay. The relay team was in fourth place as Simonis took the baton: her blazing anchor leg of 2:13.8 brought Bryn Mawr into first place, and the team won the event in 9:41.89, breaking the school record set in 2003 by 11.03 seconds. Coach Dan Talbot characterized Simonis' performance in this relay as "probably the best in the meet, male or female." These are the first wins recorded at an Indoor Track and Field Conference Championship for Bryn Mawr.

Other top 10 performances for Bryn Mawr included a third place finish for the 4 x 400-meter relay team of Mary Lagdameo '05, Dawkins, Racowski and Simonis in a time of 4:14.64, just .21 seconds from the second place team; a seventh-place finish and a school record for the 4 x 200-meter relay team of Sarah Chan '07, Cara Petonic '07, Anna Tomasulo '07 and Lagdameo; Tonda Shimbo '07's eighth-place finish in the mile (5:38.69); and Racowski's seventh place finish in the 800-meters (2:28.80).

Bryn Mawr edged out Johns Hopkins for sixth place, tying its best indoor Conference Championship finish and ending the meet with 41 points, the most points recorded by a Bryn Mawr track and field team at the indoor championships.

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