May 26, 2011

Bloomington, Ind. - 1500m Results

One would think that the hardest part of the trip for Fordham senior Kerri Gallagher would be when she ran the 1500m at the NCAA East Regionals at the University of Indiana. But that was before Mother Nature intervened on Wednesday, sending tornadoes through Bloomington, causing Gallagher and head coach Tom Dewey to wait out a storm in a local store and then wait a little longer as the remains of trees were removed from the parking lot, allowing them to leave.

When it came time to run Gallagher gave it her best shot, placing eighth in her heat of the 1500m in a time of 4:26.52 as the senior just missed qualifying for Saturday's quarterfinals by 1.13 seconds. The top five from each heat qualified as well as the next four fastest times.

Florida's Cory McGee won the heat in a time of 4:20.82. Gallagher finished about a second behind Virginia Tech's Lauren Lemieux (4:25.39), the final qualifier, but ahead of Cornell's Alyssa O'Connor (4:27.62).

The race was the final collegiate competition for Gallagher, the 2011 Hobbes Family Award winner as Fordham's top female athlete.