What happens when you put three of the four members of a 4x400 meter relay team into one heat of a 400 meter dash? And not just any relay team, but one that earned a second place finish in the indoor NCAA Div. III National Championships held in March?
The answer is domination, and that is exactly what the Jumbos demonstrated on Saturday at the first George Davis Invitational hosted by UMass Lowell. Though the meet was unscored, it gave the Jumbos one last opportunity to compete before this coming weekend's NESCAC Championship being held at Trinity. In the 400 meter dash, the Jumbos clogged the finish line, taking five of the top ten places -- three in the top five.
Senior All-American and tri-captain Jessica Trombly set the mark in first place with a time of 57.87. Right behind her at 58.48, former relay teammate and sophomore Rachel Bloom came in second place, shaving 0.3 seconds off of her time in her second place finish at the Indoor New England Div. III Championships at the end of February.
It was only then that other schools competing in the event were allowed a window. Tristin Johnson of UMass Lowell and Kate Viera of Bentley College earned third and fourth place, respectively. The third member of the indoor relay team, senior Emily Bersin, closed out the top five with a time of 59.80. With this performance, Bersin chopped off over a second from her 1:01.22 time in the same event at the Bantam Invitational two weekends ago.
For the other Jumbos competing in the event, senior tri-captain Katie Higley came in at 1:01.86, taking seventh place, and sophomore Jillian Warner closed out the top ten with a 1:02.53 performance in the field of 23 entrants.
In the 800 meter dash, freshman Sarah Crispin raced to first place with a personal best time of 2:19.02. Shannon O'Brien of Keene State took second place in 2:19.69 before junior Jumbo Katie Sheedy took third place in 2:19.86, also a personal best. It was the first time either runner has broken the 2:20 mark in this event. Freshman Sammy Moland took tenth place in the field of 27 competitors, with a time of 2:29.15.
In her first attempt at the 3000 steeplechase, sophomore Rebecca Ades won the event in 11:37.40, ranking her fourth in the NESCAC. She also earned a second place finish in the 1500, with a time of 4:54.09, taking off over a second from her 4:55.74 time from two weekends ago.
Tufts crushed the field in the 100m hurdles, with Trombly taking first place (15.71) and freshman teammate Mackenzie Rawcliffe right behind her in second place (16.42). There were only three events out of the twenty on the day in which the Jumbos did not score at least one team member in the top five.
Other event winners included sophomore Arielle Aaronson in the 5000 (19:53.06), which she dominated by over a minute and a half. Junior Sika Henry earned first place in the high jump as well. Classmate Melissa Graveley took third place in the event with a personal best of 5'2".
The field squad also enjoyed a day full of personal and season bests.
"Overall, we had an excellent day," senior Jessica Gauthier said. "I think it was our time in season to step up. We are still training hard through the week but things just cliqued this weekend."
In the hammer throw, junior Jessica Colby and Gauthier took second (130'10") and third place (130' 2.5"), respectively, each throwing a season best. Gauthier also had two personal bests, one in the discus (120'4") and another in the shot put (37'5.25"). Colby got a personal best with a shot put of 36 feet.
"I was really happy with my performance," Gauthier said. "I finally did as well as I thought I could do in the shot put and discus."
This meet marked the end of the early-season meets. The focus now shifts to team performance, beginning with this weekend's NESCAC Championships.
