CMC75 Moments: 2018 Women's Track and Field Finishes Fourth Behind Three National Champions
As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moments, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
2018 Women's Track and Field: Athenas Finish Fourth at NCAA Championships
The 2017-18 academic year was already unofficially dubbed the "Year of the Athena" when the CMS Women's Track and Field team began to compete at the 2018 national championships. Volleyball, women's golf and women's tennis had won the first three team national titles in CMS athletics history, with tennis adding the third right before the track and field championships began. But the Athenas wanted to make sure they capped off the landmark year for women's athletics with some history of their own.
As a sophomore in 2016, Tyra Abraham was the national champion in the 100 meters, joining Jennifer Culley in 1998 as the only CMS students to win national titles (Gwyn Hardesty also won one in 1985 while competing for CMS, but she was a visiting student from Smith). Abraham won her second title in 2018, finishing in 11.87 to edge Dani Bland of Emory by a tenth of a second, and this time she had company. Bryn McKillop capped off her standout career with a national championship in the 5000 meters, a big moment for her after she came in second in the cross country championships in the fall, and to add to the personal triumph, the runner-up she edged out by three seconds was Helen Guo of Pomona-Pitzer. And Emily Bassett came in first place in the hammer throw with a throw of 205-1, over 13 feet longer than her NCAA runner-up throw from a year before.
The three national champions in one year were more than the program had in its entire history up to that point, and helped the Athenas to a No. 4 finish in the NCAA team championships, their highest ever. It was also a significant milestone memento-wise, since the top four finishing teams receive NCAA trophies.
Abraham also finished fourth in the 200, and was part of a 4x100 relay team with Sabrine Griffith, Grace Pratt and Nirel JonesMitchell that earned All-America honors with an eighth-place finish. Abraham and Bassett swept the SCIAC Track and Field Athlete of the Year Awards, respectively, while Rebecca Stewart (400 meters), Kyleigh Mann (800 meters), Lauren Stanislaw (10000 meters), Ellen Berkley (steeplechase) joined Abraham, McKillop, Bassett and the 4x100 team with SCIAC Championships.
Tyra Abraham:
In December of 2017, I had lunch with one of my coaches and we talked about personal goals for the upcoming season. I had a few goals in mind but the main one was to win a national championship in the 100m dash. Heading into the season, I felt pretty confident about accomplishing this goal as well as the overall team. This team felt special early on due to the experienced returners and the first-years that were already showing great potential. I remember the team starting off strong and just continuing to dominate for the rest of the season. A huge reason for our domination is because our team was stacked and full of depth. It was unsurprising to look at the results of an event and see that multiple Athenas had performed very well. Being part of a high-performance team was inspiring because it made me want to elevate my performance even more and lead by example.
When Nationals came around, I had complete confidence in my ability to perform in high-pressure situations. That season was a breakthrough for me in terms of finally trusting myself and understanding that every prior race (even the bad ones) had prepared me for this moment. So when the team arrived in La Crosse, I just knew what I had to do—compete like I had been doing all season and be a supportive teammate by killing it on the anchor leg of the 4x100 relay and cheering on my teammates.
Watching Emily and Bryn also win national championships was surreal and exciting. It happened so quickly! We all won our races within a few hours of each other toward the end of the three-day championship. I vividly remember standing on top of the podium with my coaches and teammates and holding up the fourth place team trophy with Bryn and Emily. All of our hard work had paid off and it was very much the rewarding ending I was seeking.
Coming into that 2018 season, the seniors on the team had won the SCIAC championship the three previous years. And so, we wanted to continue cultivating a team culture of working hard, showing grit, and displaying excellence. I'd say we were pretty successful at doing that—and because the team was so invested in doing well, it made all of our victories much more memorable and exciting.
Bryn McKillop:
It was great to share the nationals trips with Tyra and Emily, who are both very down-to-earth but still competitive people. Sharing the experience of just having graduated but still looking to cap off a college experience with big wins was really special. I felt like we all were in the same head space. I still felt like I was sharing the nationals experience with the entire CMS team and alumni community though. Looking at my phone after my race and seeing 50 texts from teammates past and present is not something I will soon forget!
2018 Women's Track and Field Roster
Head Coach: Glenn Stewart
Assistant Coaches: John Goldhammer, Emily Ramey-Root, Bob Ramsey, Collin Christensen, Angel De Los Santos, Megumi Abe
Tyra Abraham (Sr., Sprints, Scripps)
Samantha Baker (Fr., Distance, Scripps)
Emily Bassett (Sr., Throws, CMC)
Ellen Berkley (Sr., Distance, CMC)
Meghan Bobrowsky (Fr., Distance, Scripps)
Laura Broderick (Sr., Distance, Scripps)
Roselyn Cantu (Sr., Distance, CMC)
Zoe Cardwell-Copenhefer (So. Pole Vault, Scripps)
Julia Catolico (Fr., Jumps, CMC)
Mary Celestin (Fr., Sprints, HMC)
Danielle Chami (Jr., Pole Vault, CMC)
Jaqueline Choe (So., Distance, CMC)
Natasha Crepeau (Fr., Distance, HMC)
Julia Drooff (Fr., Hurdles, Scripps)
Lynnlee Duck-Reynolds (Fr., Distance, Scripps)
Geneva Ecola (Jr., Jumps, HMC)
Aubrey Egerter (Fr., Hurdles, HMC)
Laura Fleming (So., Distance, HMC)
Miranda Foster (Fr., Distance, Scripps)
Mikaela Gallardo (Jr., Throws, Scripps)
Amanda Gallop (So., Throws, Scripps)
Olivia Gleason (Fr., Distance, Scripps)
Sabrine Griffith (So., Hurdles, HMC)
Sarah Halvorsen (Fr., Distance, HMC)
Delaney Hartmann (Fr., Distance, Scripps)
Danielle Honan (Fr., Sprints, CMC)
Dulcie Jones (Fr., Distance, Scripps)
Nirel JonesMitchell (So., Sprints, CMC)
Gabriella Kimmerly (So., Distance, Scripps)
Alexandra Lambros (So., Distance, Scripps)
Sophia Liles (Fr., Distance, Scripps)
Michelle Lilly (So., Jumps, HMC)
Kyleigh Mann (Sr., Distance, CMC)
Deyana Marsh (Fr., Hurdles, HMC)
Natalie Marsh (So. Distance, Scripps)
Bridget McCarthy (So., Hurdles, CMC)
Bryn McKillop (Sr., Distance, ScrippsCMC)
Jackie McVay (Fr., Distance, Scripps)
Amanda Mell (So., Jumps, CMC)
Mati Miller (Fr., Distance, Scripps)
Bailey Mknelly (Fr., Hurdles, Scripps)
Marika Morelan (So., Throws, CMC)
Callie Morken (Fr., Pole Vault, Scripps)
Amelia Otto Cunning (So., Jumps, HMC)
Grace Pratt (Fr., Sprints, CMC)
Georgia Scherer (So., Distance, CMC)
Ariel Sepulveda (Fr., Pole Vault, CMC)
Katherine Snell (So., Sprints, CMC)
Lauren Stanislaw (Sr., Distance, Scripps)
Rebecca Stewart (Sr., Hurdles, Scripps)
Emma Su (Sr., Distance, Scripps)
Mia Syme (Fr., Distance, CMC)
Jessica Torrey (Fr., Distance, CMC)
Theresa Versen (Fr., Distance, CMC)
Kelly Watanabe (So., Jumps, CMC)
Carolyn Weisman (Fr., Jumps, CMC)
Alex Wilson (Fr., Distance, CMC)
Evelyn Zepeda (Sr., Distance, Scripps)