The Jumbos took the outdoor track for the first time this spring, hosting Saturday's Snowflake Classic. While the team just finished a largely successful indoor season, moving outside has brought an entirely new group of challenges.
"There are more factors you have to take into consideration, like wind and temperature and everything," junior Cat Beck said. "I think people really took it in stride this weekend and did a great job with it. Also the meets are a lot larger, so everyone takes a lot longer to go. We got pretty far behind schedule. You just have to be more aware of your surroundings and what's going on."
The A and B 4x100 relay teams remained unfazed, racing to finishes of 50.01 and 51.99, respectively, despite some last-minute lineup changes after sophomore Halsey Stebbins got sick the night before the meet.
"Halsey wasn't able to come to the meet, so we kind of scrambled," senior Jessica Mactas said. "We put [freshman Andrea Ferri] on the team and we quickly did some handoffs. We didn't know how it would go - Andrea's a great runner, but handoffs are so important and we hadn't really practiced. We were kind of just winging it."
"We're just trying a bunch of different legs," coach Kristen Morwick said. "We had to adjust both teams, so literally last minute we tried a few other options in practice. It was kind of throwing it together at the last minute. With more practice and figuring out the right team, we'll be able to run a really good time. It's encouraging that both teams ran so well."
While the foursome of Mactas, Ferri, junior Kaleigh Fitzpatrick and freshman Logan Crane checked in at 50.01, the team of juniors Jenna Weir and Joyce Uang and sophomores Aubrey Wasser and Paula Dormon was not far behind, running a clip of 51.99.
"We had a really good time against really good teams," Mactas said. "We were able to come in third, and I think the two teams that beat us were both D-1, so we're happy about that. It was a good first meet for the 4x1."
Several of the Jumbo runners also saw individual success, including Beck, who took first place in the 5000-meter run after earning All-American honors and a fifth-place finish at Indoor Nationals in the event. With a time if 17:03, Beck missed the NCAA automatic qualifying mark by three seconds, but was still able to secure a provisional standard time that put her in first place in both New England and in the nation.
"She ran it all by herself," Morwick said. "She started out running 5:40, and the second mile she did in 5:30. The last four laps she came through in 5:12. That's a pretty good negative split all by herself. That was awesome."
Junior Anna Shih led the pack in the 3000-meter steeple chase, posting a mark of 11:51.06, while competing in the event for the first time. Additionally, Mactas' time of 13:01 in the 100-meter broke her personal record, and Ferri posted a new outdoor record with 26.80 in the 200-meter. Sophomores Veronica Jackson and Betsy Aronson both placed within the top eight in the 5000-meter run. While Jackson broke her personal record by nearly 15 seconds, Aronson's time was over 20 seconds faster than her previous best.
The field event specialists also had a strong showing on Saturday, turning in impressive throwing, jumping and vaulting performances. Uang, Crane and Weir excelled in the long jump, with Uang and Crane setting new personal records at 5.02 and 5.20, respectively.
"All three long jumpers did really well," Morwick said. "I only had them all take three jumps and not do finals, and it places those three in the top six in New England. Unfortunately, long and high jump kind of conflicted, so when Joyce and Jenna finished with the long jump, they had to kind of run over there. It wasn't indicative of what we can do in the high jump."
Although the throwers had some of their own adjustments to make, as the outdoor season features the hammer and javelin throws, as well as the transition from a wooden practice floor to a cement competition floor for the shot put and discus, the Jumbos rose to the challenges. Both Ferri and freshman Julia Feltus threw personal records in the javelin, while Feltus also placed 18th in the hammer throw.
"For our other throwers, it went really well," Dormon said. "Julia Feltus ended up throwing [30.81 m] in the hammer. Since she hasn't had a lot of practice on it, it was cool to see her do well in it. It will be cool to see what happens when she actually starts practicing the hammer every day."
The pole vaulting squad saw the return of sophomore Katrine Dermody, who returned from knee surgery, but she was pulled from competition for precautionary measures after slightly twisting her knee.
Overall, the Jumbos were pleased with the results of their opening meet and will use it as a foundation for competition in the upcoming weeks.
"I think it's tough to get back in the swing of things," Beck said. "I think we all want to do better, but I think it's a great starting point. We're happy to have this first meet under our belts, and we're looking forward to the rest of the season."
