The Nike Central Park women s team took third place this weekend at the National Club Championships meet at Icahn Stadium, their best-ever finish. The men were sixth, as they were two years ago when the event also was held at Icahn.

Now in its seventh year, the National Club Champs are becoming a popular and increasingly tough event — which makes what the CPTC athletes and Coach Devon accomplished that much more impressive. For perspective: 67 teams were entered, with about 450 athletes.

Also, by taking third place, the women claimed a $1,000 prize.

CPTC put on a show and claimed a lot of points in the relays on Saturday, probably the most exciting two hours of the outdoor season. We won both the women s and men s 4 X 800 and the women s distance medley, while the men took second in the distance medley.

The roster of great and gutty performances is long, so we ll just mention two people — Aileen Conlon, who won the 5000 meters on Friday and anchored the gold medal DMR on Saturday, and, on the men s side, Jeff Williams, who race a smart race and was second by a tenth of a second in the 800 on Friday night and then anchored us to victory in the 4 X 800 on Saturday. He then ran the 800, again, in the DMR.

There may be more to come on this, so stay tuned, but the bottom line is the meet was a big success.