Both Maegan Krifchin and Michael LeBlanc were satisfied with their individual performances, yet each felt they could have run faster at the IC4A Championship meet on Sunday in Boston – even though each came home with a championship.

Overlooking the complacency both shared, Krifchin and LeBlanc each won their events on Sunday. Krifchin took home the title in the 1000-meter run, the first Syracuse female runner to win an IC4A championship. LeBlanc won the 55-meter dash in 6.21 seconds, breaking the IC4A meet record in the event and finishing 0.19 seconds ahead of teammate Aulton Kohn.

Krifchin and LeBlanc’s teammates shared in the success. The Orange men’s track and field team tied for sixth out of a 53 team field, scoring 35 points. The SU women’s track team tied for 13th, scoring 22 points.

Krifchin, a freshman from second-year head coach Chris Fox’s first true recruitment class, started off strong by following the leader of the pack, Rebecca Haley of New Hampshire. With 150 meters left in the race, Krifchin surged and took the lead, holding off Haley and winning with a time of 2:52.81, almost two seconds ahead of Haley.

‘When I decided to take the lead with about two laps left, in my head I thought ‘The coaches are going to be mad at me,” Krifchin said. ‘But I felt comfortable with my decision and I went with my gut, I told myself this was my race and no one was going to pass me.’

After being sick during the Big East Championship meet on Feb. 18 and getting pushed around during the race, Krifchin knew coming into the IC4A meet that place is more important than time. She placed sixth in the 1000-meter at the Big East championship.

‘Competing against some tough competition during the Big East meet helped give me the experience to go for the win at the IC4A meet,’ Krifchin said. ‘Time-wise I always want to do better, but it was my best time this season in the 1000. I always want to run faster, but I’m satisfied.’

Fox had a more enthusiastic reaction to Krifchin’s performance, describing the freshman’s race as ‘outstanding.’ Going into the race, Fox said he predicted she would finish in the top four.

‘Maegan ran a great tactile race,’ Fox said. ‘After watching Maegan progress all season, we thought she had a shot at winning if she played her cards right.’

As for LeBlanc, the sophomore was seeded first in the 55-meter dash and broke out from the blocks in the lead.

‘I looked to my side and Aulton was not by my side,’ LeBlanc said. ‘Aulton is always right there with me, so then I knew I had to kick it into high gear and that I could really win this race.’

LeBlanc ran the preliminary and semifinal races of the 55-meter dash in order to tune up for next weekend’s NCAA Championship meet, and then did not plan on running in the finals of the 55-meter dash.

‘We felt it might be a good idea for Mike to have one more good, fast race before NCAA’s, so we let him run,’ assistant coach David Hegland said.

‘The coaches and I decided for me to compete in the finals because the 55 is not a big exhausting race,’ LeBlanc said. ‘I wanted to run faster, I always want to run faster and I had a feeling I could break the meet record.’

He broke the record by one-tenth of a second.

Kohn placed second in the 55-meter dash and placed third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.18 seconds, breaking his own school record. He set the school record last year in the 200-meter at the IC4A Championships as well, with a time of 21.26.

‘We are a team that is much better equipped for a meet like the IC4A championships,’ Fox said. ‘Right now we do not have the depth for a meet like Big East. Hopefully in the next few years we will be able to score more points, but right now we have a few really good stars.’

Published on March 4, 2007 at 12:00 pm