Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Sports

This past Friday, senior distance runner Nicole Mauro shaved 33 seconds off her previous best time in the 5000-meter run with a time of 18:10.45 as she notched an impressive 34th place victory at Boston University's Valentine Invitational. Mauro broke her own record that was set two weeks ago at the Wesleyan Invitational with a time of 18:45.05.

"There were like 150 girls entered in the 5k, so I knew that I wouldn't have to run this race alone," said Mauro. "At the Wesleyan Invitational there were only eight girls who ran the 5k." Last week, Mauro said that she ran a majority of the race by herself ahead of the pack and that things were much more different with more competitors around her.

"When you run a race in 'no man's land' its really hard to push yourself to run your fastest, but when you have a bunch of other people in the race running the same pace or faster than you are, you are really able to push yourself to your limits," said Mauro.

Mauro, a cross country runner and distance runner in outdoor track, said that she likes to run distance races in all three sports.

"I really enjoy the 5k and the 10k," said Mauro. "I have a much better chance of doing well in the longer races. But I really started doing well and having fun last indoor season. That's when all the training starting to come together."

Going into the race Mauro said that she never knows whether she's going to do good or bad. She said that she did it once and finished the race with a poor time.

"I don't think any athlete knows when they're going to do really well," said Mauro. "But after it (happens) I think that they are just as shocked as everyone else. (You) can't really tell until the gun goes off."

The women's indoor track and field team will compete in the MASAC Championships this weekend. Mauro says that she thinks the team will do better than their fifth place, out of five teams finish last year.

"We don't have many numbers, but our girl's area able to do well in multiple events," said Mauro. "I think that if coach doubles us up in a lot of events we'll have a good chance of placing well."

Mauro's time in the 5,000 qualified her for the ECAC Championships at the beginning of next month. To date two members of the men's indoor track team have also qualified for the ECAC's.

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