Tufts takes second hosting postponed Snowflake Classic

The Snowflake Classic nearly lived up to its name once again, as the Jumbos wondered if they would be able to host the meet after Saturday's snowstorm. Thankfully, the track was cleared in time for the even to begin bright and early on Sunday morning. 

“Our coach saw that Saturday’s weather would be poor and made a quick decision to move the meet to Sunday,” junior Ipek Emekli told the Daily in an email. “By the time the events started, it was sunny and relatively warm, and I think we all enjoyed competing.”

The team took second place in its first home meet of the outdoor season. Several events showed as many as four Jumbos placing to earn points for their team.

“We had some women coming off of impressive performances in Vegas and others having a good start to their outdoor season,” sophomore Paige Fielding said. “It was really a great day for our team.”

To demonstrate this, Tufts placed four runners in the top-8 of the 800-meter. First-year Julia Gake came in strong for a second place finish, posting a 2:20.51.  Senior quad-captain Samantha Cox followed closely behind, claiming third at 2:20.66 to claim. First-year Rhemi Toth and junior Sara Stokesburycame in seventh at 2:23.66 and eighth at 2:23.99, respectively.  

The runners of the 100-meter dash contributed their share of team points as well, with senior quad-captain Rita Donohue claiming the No. 2 spot with a time of 13.16, sophomore Sydney Ladner crossing fifth at 13.33 and first-year Raquel Whiting coming in at 13.41 for sixth place. The trio scored a combined 15 points for the team’s overall total.  

“Rita crushed her events [Sunday] after being badly injured for a while,” Emekli wrote. “Recovering from an injury is a mentally and physically tough process, and she pulled through that very fast.”

The 200-meter featured three more scoring Jumbos, as Donohue, Whiting and junior Annalisa DeBari all notched strong showings in the event. DeBari finished at 26.93 to take fourth place and Donohue tailed her closely to finish fifth at 27.00.Whiting came quickly behind with 27.25 to take eighth place.

DeBari then showed her prowess in the 100-meter hurdles and came sweeping in at 14.88 to take first in the preliminaries and clinch the No. 9 spot in the nation. For the 400-meter hurdles, senior quad-captain Hannah Loss shot over the finish line and took fourth at 1:09.46, edging out several runners just behind her.  

Running the 4x800 relay were first-year Nicole Kerrigan, sophomore Julia Noble, junior Eliza Lawless, and senior Sophia Passacantando who teamed up for a blistering 10:20.55 finish, earning themselves first place and adding ten points to the team pool.    

In the 4x4 relay, Cox, junior Julia Prusaczyk, Loss and Gake placed second with a time of 4:09.34, earning eight points for the team. Ladner, Donohue, first-year Frances Kiles, and DeBari teamed up for the 4x1 relay, and came in at 50.55 for third place, contributing six more points to Tufts’ score.

The three relay events combined contributed 24 team points toward the total.  

Sophomore Kylene DeSmith placed in both the long jump (16-foot-7.75-inches) and the triple jump (33-foot 4-inches), with a fourth place finish in both.  

“Kylene's double in long jump and triple jump was awesome,” Fielding said. “Going out and crushing two extremely technical field events is no easy feat, and it’s tough on the legs.”

Junior Jennifer Sherwill also recorded a fourth place finish in the discus, with a 126-foot-4-inch throw. Sherwill also placed ninth in the hammer throw, with a toss of 10.72 meters.

Competing in the javelin throw for the Jumbos were first-years Julia Kissel and Erin Logee.Kissel threw 37-feet 63-inches for a fifth place finish, and Logee threw a 35-foot 35-inch for an eighth place finish. Later, during the pole vault, Ladner took fifth at 2.95 meters to earn four points for her team.  

In the 10k, Tufts had three back-to-back runners place for points.First-year Jennifer Jackson was the first to finish for the Jumbos with a time of 41:15.34 to claim fourth place.Senior Sarah Corning followed her closely with a time of 41:16.29 to take fifth and junior Franchesca Burgos came in at 41:17.57 to take home sixth. Together, the three scored a combined 12 points toward the team.  

The Jumbos finished the meet with 116 points overall, trailing first-place Division I Boston University by only three points and leading third-place Southern New Hampshire University by 49. The team is hoping to build off of this success when it competes at a tri-meet hosted by Bates on Saturday.