Natalie Cooper of Moorestown, Madeleine Tattory of Delran and Emma Bean of Mainland Regional, three College of New Jersey juniors, swept the top three spots in the 5,000-meter run Monday afternoon at the New Jersey Athletic Conference championships at the Ocean Breeze facility on Staten Island.
Cooper and Tattory repeated their 1-2 finish of last year, although both ran much faster. Bean improved from fifth last year to third this year. All three ran indoor PRs.
Cooper ran 18:05.82, Tattory 18:09.69 and Bean 18:18.21 to sweep the top three sports and deliver 24 points to TCNJ in the first final of the meet. Another TCNJ runner, Olivia Shenkman, placed fifth, making the Lions’ total 28 points in the 5,000.
Cooper’s previous indoor 5,000 PR was an 18:29.73 at last year’s conference meet. Tattory’s previous indoor PR was an 18:18.90 at a meet on the same track last month. Bean’s previous indoor PR was 18:28.94 at a meet in Boston last weekend. She also surpassed her outdoor PR of 18:22.99 from a meet at Widener last spring.
This is the third straight year Tattory has placed third in the indoor NJAC meet 5,000. She was second to a runner from Stockton as a freshman, when Cooper was fourth.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 