Women's track takes first place in last regular season meet

The last meet of the regular season provided the women's track and field team with its first scoring venture -- and the squad capitalized on the opportunity. Competing amidst a field of 13 opponents, the Jumbos emerged in the top spot at this past weekend's Silfen Invitational at Connecticut College.

Not only did Tufts garner first place, but it did so in commanding fashion. Amassing a total of 201 points, the Jumbos tallied more than twice as many points as the second place finisher, Worcester Polytech, who finished with 97 points. The closest NESCAC foe was host Conn. College, finishing the day 6th overall with 60 points.

"We had a great meet in terms of performances. We won the meet by quite a bit. It was just great weather and people are really starting to perform," assistant coach Sarah Deeb said.

The theme of the meet was that of a last-chance qualifier, and two members of the team took advantage of the competition for just that purpose. In the 400m dash, junior Christine Hendrickson qualified through Div. III's with a sixth place finish in 1:02.45. Senior Megan DiBiase made it through to NESCACs in the 1500m run with her time of 5:15.24 as she raced to a 15th overall finish.

The most impressive performance of the day was put in by sophomore Melissa Graveley. Leaping to a height of 5' 4.5" in the high jump, Graveley clinched first overall in the event. While Graveley hit a mark of 5' 4.25" indoors, the height she arrived at this time around qualified her provisionally for Nationals. Graveley was also the first Jumbo to cross the finish line in the 100m hurdles, taking seventh with a time of 17.38.

"Melissa had a really good day, she just keeps getting better and she was really excited about her high jump performance," Deeb said.

Another Jumbo who captured first place honors was senior Mary Nodine in the 3000m steeplechase. Her time of 11:28.73 qualified her provisionally for Nationals though she had little competition in the event.

The closest finisher was fellow Jumbo junior Lauren Caputo, who placed second in 11:51.48. It was Caputo's first time running in the steeplechase, making her efforts all the more impressive. Given more rigorous competition in postseason action, Deeb feels that Nodine will no doubt rise to the occasion and achieve a better time.

Junior Emily Bersin and freshman Rachel Bloom were another pair of Jumbos who grabbed ten points for the team with first place finishes. Bersin did so with a time of 1:05.41 in the 400m hurdles, while Bloom sprinted to first in the 100m in 12.75 seconds.

In the 800m race, the trio of junior Katie Higley (2:22.28), and sophomores Katie Sheedy (2:23.72), and Sika Henry (2:24.78) clinched fourth through sixth places, respectively. Senior Myriam Claudio had a better day in the pole vault, taking second with a vault of 10'.

Though other weeks have proved fruitful for the throwers, such was not the case this time around. In general, the throwers didn't have a great day, as their tosses didn't measure up to the progress of weeks past. However, building upon a very successful season, the throwers look forward to making up for lost ground at NESCACs this weekend.

"No one was particularly thrilled with their throws, it was kind of an off week for everyone. But they're definitely excited to throw again this weekend," Deeb said.

Junior Jess Trombly was absent from competition, as she was resting for the Penn Relays in which she will be competing over yesterday and today. Trombly will be taking part in the heptathlon and hoping to hit the National qualifying mark.

"She'll still compete at NESCACs, she'll just take the rest of the week easy. It was obviously something to consider having her compete in a meet so close to NESCACs, but she's very fit, so she should be fine," Deeb said.

The focus going into this weekend will be a second place overall finish at NESCACs, given that the team attained this goal last season. Williams will once again remain an indomitable track foe, but second place is well within the sights for the Jumbos. The team has only seen Wesleyan, Conn. College, and Trinity during the outdoor regular season, so other teams may provide competition in areas that the team is not aware of. Of the other NESCAC teams competing, Colby should be the biggest threat.

"NESCACs is the focus for our outdoor season," Deeb said. "No one will beat Williams, they're too good and too deep, but second is definitely a goal for us. It'll be interesting given that the NESCAC is a very competitive league and meet. We're looking to do very well in events like the sprints and steeplechase."