Nicole Burlinson has been named the Women’s Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week for the fourth time this season and the second-straight week. After winning two events two weeks ago at the SPIRE Division II Challenge, Burlinson continued to improve upon her performances, establishing a new school record and reaching the NCAA Division II provisional qualification she missed in her last two races.
This past Friday evening at the Grand Valley State Big Meet, which was tabbed the USTFCCCA "National Meet of the Week”, Burlinson ran the 800 meter run in a time of 2:10.80, shattering her own school record of 2:14.06 set almost a year ago to the day at Kent State. She finished fourth in the field of 36 competitors and was well under the NCAA Division II Provisional Qualifying Time of 2:16.50.
Burlinson finished less than a second behind the unattached winner, Steph Tinney (2:09.86), and within 0.7 and 0.5 seconds of the second and third place finishers - both of which were NCAA Division I runners, making her the top Division II finisher in the field.
Burlinson’s weekend was not over, on Saturday she was leading her heat of the mile by an estimated 30 meters with 250 to go before a non-major injury forced her to pull up and she did not finish the race.