The women's track team began the second semester on a positive note, placing second in a competitive field of eight teams at the Tufts Invitational on Saturday. While Div. I UMass-Amherst maintained a strong lead on the competition, the Jumbos managed to fend off the other six teams.
"This was a great meet back from break," coach Kristen Morwick said. "The team did extremely well, especially against a Div. I sprinting powerhouse like UMass. Their strength was in the sprints, and that's just not where we put people."
The Jumbos used the meet as an opportunity to gauge what runners were capable of coming off winter training. Judging by the times and distances posted by the team, individuals made the most of the winter break, as everyone came back in competitive shape.
"There were personal bests throughout every event group and transcending each class from freshman to seniors," junior Sarah Foss said. "So it looks as if everyone's work from winter break really paid off."
Among the notable performances were five individual first place finishes by the Jumbos. In the sprints and middle distances, first place honors were earned by junior co-captain Myriam Claudio in the 400 meter dash (1:00.80), freshman Katie Sheedy in the 800 run (2:25.97), and sophomore Jessica Trombly, who came off injury to take the 200 dash (27.01). Junior Mary Nodine also came off injury to post a first place victory in the 1500 run, while classmate Sarah Foss posted a personal best to take first in the 5000 run (19:09.56).
In the 600, sophomore Emily Bersin nearly edged out national champion Mary Proulx from Keene State College, but instead finished only one second behind with a time of 1:42.88. Senior Colleen Burns placed second behind Sheedy in the 800 with a time of 2:26.94, while sophomore Lauren Caputo ran a personal best of 3:09.42 to capture second in the 1000. Also posting a personal best was senior Sarah Leistikow, who earned an impressive third place in the long jump with a distance of 4.97 meters.
The throwers represented the Jumbos well in the shot put competition, putting three Jumbos in the top eight. Freshman Katie Antle threw a personal best of 11.12 meters for third place, while sophomore teammates Gwen Campbell and Jessica Gauthier also earned personal bests on their way to sixth and eight place finishes, respectively.
"We got a lot of points and were very close to UMass, and we got a lot of great performances especially for so early on in the season," Claudio said. "It shows that the training is starting to really pay off."
Claudio had another successful weekend, teaming up with Trombly for a first place romp in the 4x400m relay. The team produced the second fastest time in New England behind Wheaton with a finish of 4:05.05, beating the closest team by a full ten seconds. Claudio also set another school record in the pole vault with a leap of 9' 6'', taking sixth place.
Fellow jumpers sophomore Amy Spiker and freshman Melissa Graveley placed sixth and eighth in the high jump. Rounding out the jumpers was sophomore Shushanna Mignott, who joined Leistikow in the long jump to finish in sixth place, and also racked up a fourth place finish in the triple jump.
In the distance events, senior Heather Ballantyne and junior Megan DiBiase placed fourth and sixth in the 3000 run with times of 11:19.71 and 11:44.42 respectively, while sophomore Lauren Dunn finished third place in the 5000 run (19:35.53). The middle distances saw an impressive second place finish by freshman Claudia Clarke in the 400 (1:02.84).
After this weekend's promising start to the season, the Jumbos are hoping to continue their success against other NESCAC teams. The opportunity will come this weekend as the team travels to Bowdoin to face off against the Polar Bears. While strategy was relatively low key in this past weekend's meet in favor of seeing how people performed in each event, it will play a dominant role this coming meet.
"The team looks good," Morwick said. "We may have to strategize a little to try to beat Bowdoin. As long as we keep getting people in first and second places, we'll get the points we need to win. We'll think more carefully about what events we put people in."
