It was a special way to end her indoor track career, as senior Carolyn Robin won both the 3,000 meter and 5,000 meter races at the NEC Champion-ships on Valentine’s Day weekend, and to set school records in both events made it that much sweeter.
Robin, a native of Foster, Rhode Island, broke her own record in the 5,000 meter by :12, with a time of 17:43.25. It can be considered remarkable as she set the school record in the 3,000 meter with a time of 10:08.42 the previous day. Robin’s accomplishments on the track were good enough to earn her New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association’s (NEICAAA) Athlete of the Week.
Upon receiving the news, Robin said, “I did not even know there was such a thing,” as it is a fairly new achievement given out to athletes over all of New England. Never the less, Robin also noted she was very excited to be recognized for her performances.
Robin also received NEC All-Conference honors as she was nominated to first team all conference in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meter.
Heading into the meet, Robin was not one hundred percent confident she would be able to win both of the races. “I doubted myself going into it,” she said, “but I knew it was possible and something to look forward to.”
There was further incentive for winning, however. An encounter with a rival runner made winning that even better. After winning the 3,000 meter, Robin was being congratulated by her fellow competitors when her rival said, “good race, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Robin humbly admitted that she had been beaten in the past by her. Robin said, “I wasn’t sure if I could [put up a] fight again after running so hard the first day.” She rose to the challenge and won her second race to cap off an outstanding final conference championship meet.
She attributes much of her success to the job Head Coach Shawn Green has done with her training. Robin said, “[Green] has really kept our mileage up and we have done more speed work which has helped.” These sentiments have also been echoed by fellow teammate Katie Gwyther as she also feels Green has been a main reason for the outstanding performances of the team this year.
The gratuity that Robin offered to Green has also been reciprocated by the coach. Green thought that Robin’s performance in the 3,000 meter helped to spark the team. He said, “Her race seemed to set the tone for the whole meet,” but Robin is a little more modest about the reasons of the team’s success. She said, “Everyone was ready to run well. I did run early in the meet, but everyone showed up and all were prepared to run.”
Robin’s victories in the 3,000 and 5,000 meter races qualified her for the ECAC women’s championships. While other students will be enjoying Spring Break, Robin and her fellow Bobcat teammates will be competing in Boston at the most prestigious race of the season for the Quinnipiac squad.
