With only the Eastern Conference Athletic Championship and NCAA Championship left in the season, the women’s indoor track team’s sprinters and relay runners have reached full speed.

Last week at the New York State Collegiate Track Conference Championship, which took place at Rochester Institute of Technology’s Gordon Field House, the sprinters and short-distance relay teams earned a combined 87 points, helping the South Hill squad take home the state title for the second year in a row.

An important member of the sprint squad is junior Marcia McCord, who tallied 22.5 points in the sprint events alone — not including her 20 additional points in the jumps. McCord, who has qualified for nationals in four events, holds the college’s records in the 60-, 200-, 300- and 400-meter events.

McCord said her goal for NCAAs is to come back with some hardware.

“As of yet, I’m not an indoor All-American, and I’d like to change that,” she said. “If I compete smart and focus on what I need to do, I can get it done.”

Freshman Lauren Goldberg, a team member alongside McCord on Ithaca’s 4x200-meter relay team, said McCord is extremely valuable to the team.

“Training with great athletes like Marcia has been pretty cool,” Goldberg said. “At first it was a little intimidating, but [training with her] makes me work harder. Being with athletes who I know run faster than me, it really pushes me.”

In the longer sprints, such as the 500-meter, the Bombers have a deep roster of underclassman talent who have turned it on and have begun to score important points, while pushing one another toward faster times.

In the 500-meter run, the Bombers have two freshmen, Ebonie Howard and Katie Ahart, who have made the transition from high school running seem easy as they captured the state’s top two positions at the NYSCTC Championship.

Howard, who was a cross country runner in the fall, said the step down from 5,000-meter races to 500-meter races was easy.

“The transition from cross country to the sprints wasn’t bad at all because I had the distance training,” she said. “I just had to work on my speed. [Sprint] training is more speed-oriented. Every workout is different, but my mileage usually doesn’t go over two miles in a practice, and sometimes it can be as low as 500 meters.”  

Combining their sprint talent into a four-person team, the Bombers are hard to beat in the relay events. In the 4x200-meter relay, the Bombers set a school record at the state meet, as Goldberg and freshman Cassie Clark teamed up with McCord and sophomore Emma Dewart to run 1:45.56, earning them first place.

“Being part of a first-place relay team and earning points towards our team’s total points is the best feeling,” Goldberg said. “Setting a new record is always exciting. It is a great reward for working hard all season long.”

Between the relays and sprinting events, the Bombers are on track to succeed at their upcoming championships. These events are a main reason why they are ranked No. 10 in the national Division III polls. With ECACs and NCAAs ahead, the Bombers are focused, sharp and ready to sprint their way to the front in every event, making sure they earn as many points as they can in the sprint events.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that [the sprinters] will keep improving in the meets to come,” McCord said. “I’m expecting them to go out and take everything they can. They don’t see failure as an option.”