"Donato is an excellent half-miler, and we knew she would beat Cindy in that
event," Aitken said. "So we sat down and figured out how much leeway Cindy had
to lose the eight hundred and still win [the heptathlon]. She had to be within
five seconds of [Donato]."The race began and Donato went out fast, running the first 400 in slightly
more than a minute. Pomerleau was six seconds behind. Aitken said the Colby
senior then summoned all of the desire and stamina she had shown over her
extraordinary four-year career and went after Donato. "She picked out a line on
the track and when Donato passed the line, Cindy began counting, `one thousand
one, one thousand two . . . '" Aitken said. Pomerleau closed the
distance between her and Donato while, in the stands, Aitken, other Colby
coaches and athletes and a cluster of alumni cheered her on, trying, Aitken
said, "not to be too obnoxious." Donato finished in 2:21.98. Two and a
half seconds behind her came Cynthia Pomerleau, Colby College's first female
national champion in any sport. Pomerleau is the first Colby athlete to win a national championship since
Todd Coffin '83 won the steeplechase in 1983. She was later joined by Colby
freshman Jamie Brewster, who won the hammer throw at the same NCAA meet (see
below).Aitken says Pomerleau, whose point total at the national meet shattered the
school heptathlon record, ranks as the best performer she has coached since
coming to Colby 12 years ago. "What sets Cindy apart from other athletes is the
consistent upward spiral of improvement she has shown," Aitken said. "I can't
speak highly enough of Cindy as a person. She works incredibly hard and she is
one of the kindest people I've ever known. She really does care about everybody
on the team and is willing to do anything to help the team."Led by Pomerleau, Aitken said, the women's track and field team had "a very
good season that could have been even better." Had key injuries not felled
several of her best athletes, Aitken says, this year's squad might have
challenged perennial powerhouse Williams for the NESCAC title.Despite the rash of injuries, including one that forced out All-America
distance runner Kara Patterson '97, the Mules placed third in the conference
and fourth at the ECAC meet. "Everybody who we had for the entire season had
incredible breakthrough performances at NESCACs and the following week at the
Division III New Englands, where we finished fifth," Aitken said. "And then to
come back with just seventeen people and finish fourth at ECACs was a
tremendous effort.""We're losing such a strong group of seniors--big point scorers--that it's
going to be really tough to replace them," Aitken said. "When you lose somebody
like Cindy, who could score twenty to forty points in a meet by herself, that's
a tremendous loss to our team."
He Threw the Title
Capping a season that included breaking the school record
in his third meet as a collegiate performer, first-year student Jamie Brewster
won the NCAA Division III hammer throw, joining Cynthia Pomerleau '97 as
Colby's first national champions since 1983.
Based on his regular-season performance, Brewster's winning throw of 186 feet,
three inches was not unexpected, says men's track and field head coach Barrett
Smith '93. "Jamie went into the meet ranked first, so we knew he had a chance
to win," Smith said. "But to go out there as a freshman and do it, that was
amazing."
Throwing coach Dan Camann agreed. "It was a very exciting meet in that Jamie
was the only freshman there. Of the fifteen competitors there was Jamie, two
sophomores and all the rest were seniors," he said.
Brewster qualified for the nationals in his second meet of the season with a
throw of 177 feet, two inches. In his next meet he threw a Colby record 192
feet, seven inches and established himself as the premier hammer thrower in
Division III. He won the State of Maine meet and placed first at the New
England Championships. He arrived at the national meet seeded first, about two
feet ahead of his closest rival. He actually won the national title with his
first throw in the preliminaries but topped it in the finals.
"Jamie's future looks very promising," Camann said.