From NYU Athletics

The New York University women's track & field team competed in Boston University's Valentine Invitational on Friday, February 12, in Boston, MA.

The Violets faced fierce competition, running against schools representing all three collegiate divisions.

NYU's 4x400 relay squad, consisting of Drew Washington, Danielle Murray, Justina Sanders-Schifano, and Ireland Gibson rewrote the school's history book by breaking the event record with a time of 3:55.73. The previous record time, set two years ago, was nearly two seconds slower at 3:57.23.

"I could not be prouder of our relay team," said Head Coach Will Boylan-Pett. "Drew did a tremendous job of putting us in that race with a great start. The two freshman in the middle legs really did a great job carrying us. It was an amazing effort by Ireland to close as anchor despite a poor handling of the baton. She actually ran the race with the loss of one of her shoes. Our respect for those runners went up for sure."

Becky Turlip posted a time of 5:11.69 to place 82nd in the mile. Fellow senior classmate Sarah Sisk came in 113th in a time of 5:15.55.

The Violets were represented in the 400m by freshman Sanders-Schifano. She finished 52nd with a personal-best time of 57.94, just missing the NYU record by 0.61 seconds. Murray also ran the race in a time of 59.77 (personal best) to take 98th place. Washington and senior Lydia Guo placed 107th and 114th in times of 59.97 and 1:00.22, respectively.

"It was a really good meet overall," stated Boylan-Pett. "I am really looking forward to seeing these girls perform the next couple of weeks before the University Athletic Association Championships. We're looking good. I'm just hoping the men follow suit tomorrow."

HIGHLIGHTS:

- Gibson missed breaking the NYU 800m record by four-hundredths of a second with a time of 2:17.15 to place 67th. Sisk finished in 81st place with a time 0f 2:19.28.

- Senior captain Kristina Harris finished 47th in the 60m dash in a season-best time of 8.16 seconds.

- Freshman Alyssa Jean and Harris clocked times of 26.56 (personal best) and 27.21 (season best) to take 115th and 163rd, respectively, in the 200m.