Once again, the women's track team has shown that its greatest strength might be in its freshman class.
After setting a new Tufts record in the discus throw last week at the Snowflake Classic, freshman Kelly Allen outdid herself again this Saturday, improving her throw by close to three feet. This new program mark of 43.20 meters, set at the George Davis Invitational this weekend, a non−scoring meet hosted by the UMass Lowell, improved her NCAA qualifying mark and gave Allen a second−place finish in the discus throw event.
Stacey Connor, from the Greater Boston Track Club, took first place with her launch of 44.14 meters, but finishing as the runner−up did not lessen the moment for the Jumbos' first−year.
"I'm really excited about improving my personal bests, especially since it's the beginning of the season," Allen said. "I think I can definitely keep improving and hopefully break my record again. I have to keep working on my technique so that I have the potential to do better."
Allen also came in third in the shot put and javelin throws, with marks of 12.02 and 36.20 meters, respectively. In the shot put, Allen's hurl was well behind UMass Lowell senior Jacqui Barrett's mark of 15.16 meters, but she comfortably outdistanced Keene State junior Bryanna Brown, who came in fourth, by over half a meter.
The only two Tufts wins came from junior Amy Wilfert and senior Logan Crane. Wilfert came in first in the 3,000−meter steeplechase, finishing in 11:26.21, more than five seconds faster than Keene State sophomore Andrea Walsh, who took the runner−up slot.
Crane additionally eked out a victory in the 200−meter dash, winning with a time of 26.59 seconds, a mere .07 seconds ahead of UMass Lowell sophomore Amy Delgado.
"In a race like that, you don't have a lot of time to think," Crane said. "I could tell [Delgado] was close behind me for the last 50 meters. I just tried to hold form and push it until the finish line."
Senior co−captain Andrea Ferri was close behind Crane in the same event, finishing just .29 seconds after her teammate, giving her a close fourth−place finish. Ferri also took sixth in the 400−meter dash, just over three seconds out of first place.
Other Jumbos just missed the mark for a win in their respective events. Sophomore Heather Theiss, who already boasts a national qualifying mark for the pole vault and holds the all−time Tufts record in the event, came in second over the weekend. She was just shy of Southern Maine sophomore Bethany Dumas' height of 3.33 meters.
Junior Kanku Kabongo, furthermore, was runner−up in the long jump, jumping 5.27 meters. The 4x100−meter relay team, which was missing sophomore Dayorsha Collins, one of its regular runners, also finished second. Ferri, Kabongo, Crane and freshman Sam Bissonnette, who stepped in to take Collins' place, together earned a 50.70−second finish, just .09 seconds ahead of the third−place Brandeis team.
This weekend the team heads to Princeton for the Larry Ellis Invitational on Friday and Saturday, shortly followed by the MIT Invitational (also on Saturday). These invitationals represent the last two meets before the NECAC Championships hosted by Tufts at the end of April and are consequently the last time the Jumbos can ready themselves for the conference championship meet.
"Right now we're just preparing for the NESCAC as a team. We're treating this past meet, and all the meets so far, as ways to get ready for the championship season," Crane said.
