Fahey, Allen lead Tufts to second place at Cupid

The No. 9 women's track and field team hosted its final large indoor invitational of the season, the Cupid Invitational, at the Gantcher Center on Saturday.The Jumbos fared well in the competition, scoring 115 points and taking second overall after No. 7 MIT. Across the board, the Jumbos had some very impressive performances, including national top 10 marks and school records.

Sophomore Kelly Fahey kicked the day off in the 5,000 meters with a blazing fast time of 17:29.19, improving on her personal best by almost 50 seconds.Throughout the race, she stuck with a very talented Amherst pack (all of whom ran under 17:42) before flying past them on the final lap.Her time currently places her in the top 10 nationally (eighth), which gives her a solid shot at qualifying for the Div. III National Championships next month.

Senior Meghan Gillis also fared well, qualifying for Div. III New Englands and ECACs with her fifth place finish in 18:35.87, just off of her personal best by five seconds.Sophomore Meredith Reynolds also had a huge race, setting a personal record by almost 40 seconds and taking eighth place in 19:10.45.

In the 3,000 meter, first-year Margot Rashba ran a strong race to take fifth place overall in 10:43.15, a six second personal best.In the mile, junior Lily Corcoran and senior Catherine Madden took third and sixth overall in 5:28.00 and 5:32.70 respectively.

In the mid-distance events, junior Sydney Smith won the 800 meters, running a solid 2:18.68 time for the win.First-year Prudence Sax took fifth in the same race in 2:25.07.

Senior Lauren Gormer competed in the 600 meters, and raced well, running 1:39.42 for third place overall.Smith and Sax later returned in the 4x800-meter relay with sophomore Sam Cox and first-year Sara Stokesbury to take second in the event, running 9:56.86 overall.

For the second straight week, junior Marilyn Allen led the sprints squad with another school record.Last weekend at BU, she broke the indoor 200-meter record.This weekend, she won the 60-meter hurdles in 8.90 seconds to break her own school record of 8.96 seconds that she set last year.Like Fahey, this places her in the top 10 nationally (seventh), and gives her a solid chance at qualifying for Nationals.She also took seventh in the 60-meter dash in 8.19 seconds.

Junior Alexis Harrison came very close to breaking her school record of 7.78 seconds in the same event as she won the competition in 7.83 seconds.Her time currently places her at 10th nationally, and she is bound to improve on her time as the season progresses. Tufts' 4x400-meter relay team also emerged victorious, running 4:05.91, almost seven seconds ahead of their next closest competitor.

"I think I'm at a good place overall," Harrison said. "I'm definitely happy where I'm at in the 60m, but I should be hitting a faster time for the 200m than I have been, so I'm looking forward to BU next week in order to do so."

In the field, sophomore pole vaulter Keren Hendel took third overall with her leap of 10' 11.75". First-years Toluwa Akinyemi and Sophie Lattes, as well as junior Mary Ellen Caruso, scored 12 points overall in the triple jump, as Akinyemi took fourth with a 34' 5.75" leap, Lattes took fifth with a 33' 10.25" bound and Caruso took sixth just a centimeter shy of Lattes with a jump of 33' 10".Sophomore Bailey Conner placed sixth in the shot put with her 37' 3.75" throw and later set a personal best in the weight throw, heaving the standard 47' 6.50" for fifth overall.First-year Amylee Anyoha also fared well in the weight throw, launching the standard 46.00' to take eighth place overall.

"We've had a lot of improvements and PRs across the team among throwing, running and jumping," first-year Brittany Bowman said, who ran in the 3,000 meters. "Some people on the team were taking the weekend off or are injured, so hopefully with a full roster we can be even more competitive with MIT."

Harrison was happy with the effort put forth from the team.

"I'm very proud of the team and their performance this weekend," Harrison said. "There was good competition and everyone fought to do the best that they could."

On Friday, the Jumbos will head to the BU Track and Tennis Center for the David Hemmery Invitational, featuring athletes from all across the country at all NCAA division levels. BU is renowned for its fast, banked track, so the Jumbos will be looking for quick times and high marks as a last ditch effort to qualify more individuals for the New England Div. III Championships, held in two weeks.

"There's no doubt that MIT is a good team with a lot of depth, but when it comes to meet day at Div. III New Englands, anything can happen." Harrison said.