Over the weekend, members of the women's track team competed at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships (ECACs), held at the Reggie Lewis Center on Saturday, and the Tufts Last Chance Meet, held at the Gantcher Center on Thursday. There were tangible goals for the meets, as the Jumbos looked to either end the season on a strong note or improve their seed times to qualify for the NCAA Championships, held next weekend in Lincoln, Neb.
A few Jumbos were in action on Thursday at the Gantcher Center, as they hosted the annual Last Chance Meet, which served as an opportunity for teams to nab fast flat track times to improve on their times to qualify for Nationals.
Senior tri-captain Anya Kaufmann won the 60-meter dash in a time of 7.84, just a few ticks off of sophomore Alexis Harrison's team best time of 7.78. Sophomore Marilyn Allen broke the school record in the 60-meter hurdles, as she ran a time of 8.99 for her first sub-nine time ever, which was good for a second place showing.
Despite the impressive weekend performances from Kauffman and Allen, neither runner will travel to Nationals.
It was a tough day for the distance girls, as they went zero for three in qualifying runners for Nationals. In the 3000-meter run, sophomore Audrey Gould finished first with a time of 10:04.38 while sophomore Olivia Beltrani came in third with a time of 10:24.96.
Trying to shake off last weekend's failure to qualify for Nationals, the distance medley relay (DMR) took a second shot at qualifying but came up short, as the team of sophomore HanakoShigenobu, senior Jana Hieber, junior Lauren Gormer, and senior tri-captain Laura Peterson took fourth overall with a time of 12:05.33, placing them seventeenth in the country. Since only the top 10 relay teams earn bids to Nationals, the DMR will be watching all of the action unfold trackside this season.
On Saturday, the Jumbos got off to a great start as Harrison and Kaufmann qualified for the semifinals of the 60-meter dash. Harrison bowed out of the semifinals with a solid time of 7.87, good for a ninth place finish. Kaufmann was also out of the semifinals with her 11th place on a time of 7.91, but ran a time of 7.80 in the preliminaries, the second fastest Jumbo time this season. In the 60-meter hurdles, sophomore Marilyn Allen ran her personal best, as she ran a time of 8.96 in the event to take third.
"Personally, I wanted to improve my time to help me get closer to qualifying for Nationals; I ran four times this weekend," Kaufmann said. "This weekend I worked with my coaches on explosive starts, and as a team, we wanted to show up ready to race and qualify the 4x400 team for Nationals."
In the 800, sophomore Sydney Smith used the banked turns of the Reggie Lewis Center to her advantage, as she clocked a sub 2:20 time (2:19.95) to take 15th overall. The Jumbos also had a trio of solid performances in the 1000-meter run, as senior Grace House took seventh in the second section with a new personal best of 3:05.05. In the first section, sophomore Katie Kurtz and freshman Sophie Passacantando went three-four, finishing at virtually the same time. Kurtz took 15th overall in 3:10.16, and Passacantando placed right behind her in 16th in 3:10.50.
A trio of Jumbos also set personal bests in the 3000-meter run. Leading the charge was senior Molly Mirhashem, who ran a time of 10:34.09 to take 23rd overall. Her younger teammates finished a few seconds after her, as freshman Kelly Fahey ran a time of 10:38.17 for 29th overall, and freshman Alice Wasserman ran 10:45.48 for 37th overall. Senior Lauren Creath was the sole Jumbo competing in the 5000-meter run, but nonetheless, she performed well and took 10th overall with a time of 18:12.05, just three seconds off of her personal best.
"I was really pleased with my race." Mirhashem told the Daily in an email. "The section I was in had almost 20 girls in it, and we were all seeded in a small time window. I just tried to put myself towards the front in the beginning and not let any gaps form, and things worked my way. Getting a big [personal best] was a nice way to end my indoor track career."
Despite great performances from the entire squad, the most impressive performance on the day came in one of the final events: the 4x400-meter relay. Junior Lauren Gormer, Allen, freshman Rita Donohue and senior Jana Hieber took second overall to NESCAC rival Colby in 3:54.02, a new season best time that puts them at 18th in the country.
Although most of the Jumbos have wrapped up their indoor seasons and are in midst of preparing for the outdoor season, a few of them will be traveling west this weekend for the NCAA Div. III Championships, held at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb.
Hieber will compete in the pentathlon and will have a good chance to finish first in the event, while Gould and Harrison will be competing in the 5000-meter run and 60-meter dash.
As for those who did not qualify for Nationals, things will not get any easier," Mirhashem said. "We'll have a few easy days this week and then its right back to training for outdoors."
