The women's track and field team hosted and won the Snowflake Classic on Saturday at Dussault Track on the strength of three individual wins in field events.
Senior tri-captain Kanku Kabongo won the long jump with a length of 17-8 1/2, junior Heather Theiss took first in the pole vault with 10-8 and freshman Kristen Roberts won the high jump with 5-1, as Tufts racked up 147.5 points to finish first out of 15 teams and 17 points ahead of second-place finisher Springfield College.
The team won even while dealing with weather that, despite the meet's snowy name, made it difficult for the athletes to warm up. Saturday's competition was the first outdoor meet for those on the team who did not compete last weekend at the Westfield State Invitational. The harsh Boston winds required swift adjustments for runners and jumpers and were so strong that race organizers had to switch the direction of the 100-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles.
"After the [indoor] season ends, we take a break, so we were rusty," Kabongo said. "Plus, it was really cold outside, and it was hard to get and stay warmed up. If wind is in your face, you run slower and run less far; it can mess everything up."
Saturday's meet may have not been filled with record-breaking performances, but Tufts was dominant overall, adding four runner-up finishes to the three individual top marks. The 4 x 400-meter relay team of sophomores Julia Hajnoczky, Alyssa Corrigan, Sam Bissonnette and Toby Crispin ran 4:17.46 for second place, edging out the fourth-place finisher, Tufts' all-senior team of Rosanna Xia, Amy Wilfert, Jennifer Yih and Kabongo, by four seconds.
"It was a blast. We have this nice little tradition where we do class relays at home meets," Bissonette said. "I thought that we would do well because our class has a lot of people who consistently run the 400, but I was worried that the seniors might pull through."
Sophomore Kelly Allen added to the class of 2013 tally, racking up three runner-up finishes in the discus throw (133-10), hammer throw (140-7) and shot put (38-0). The seniors had their fair share of good results as well, including a 2:21.55 fourth-place finish from Wilfert in the 800-meter and a fifth-place finish by Wilfert in the 1,500-meter with a time of 4:41.82.
Xia, who was one of the few Jumbos to compete last weekend, used the extra week of experience to her advantage, finishing fifth in the long jump with a distance close to a personal record.
"It was obvious who had gotten the extra week to practice," Bissonette said. "Rosie is an example of someone who was more experienced with the outdoor season. For everyone else, we kind of viewed this meet as another chance to practice and weren't too concerned with times, because the weather is so different every year."
With this weekend of outdoor experience under their belt, the Jumbos will continue their season at the George Davis Invitational at UMass Lowell next Saturday.
Steven Soroka contributed reporting to this article.
