In their last meet before the Division III New England Championships, both the men’s and women’s indoor track teams had a strong showing at the 2023 Springfield College Triangle Classic in Springfield, Mass. on Saturday.
Following a strong indoor season thus far, the ’Bos traveled to Springfield to determine qualifiers for the upcoming Division IIIs as well as lock in a few more wins and bests before the season’s end.
Some notable standouts from the men’s team included senior Alex Lemieux who finished fourth in the 60-meter dash with times of 7.16 seconds in the preliminaries and 6.98 seconds in the finals. Also in the 60-meter, junior sprinter Luke Botsford locked in fifth place at 7.11. However, the two later swapped when Botsford won the 400-meter, running a speedy 49.93, this time followed up by Lemieux at 50.91.
Also in track, sophomore Naheim Washington earned third place overall with an impressive finish of 23.34 seconds in the 200-meter dash.
The Jumbos continued to pull out top times with sophomore Charlie Koenig coming in fifth overall in the 1000-meter run and sophomore Martin Horne finishing in fourth place.
Later in the field, sophomore Karsten Kropp finished second in the high jump clearing 1.85 meters with sophomore Edward Kiboma clearing the same height but taking seventh. Additionally in field events, first-year Casey Lambert earned a collegiate career-high mark of 12.55 meters. This jump also earned him fourth overall.
The Jumbos also saw team members place in the weight throw. Sophomore Eric Meyer earned fourth with a toss of 14.95 meters, followed by fellow sophomore Derek Schmaeling in sixth at 13.75 meters and first-year Martin Decker in seventh with a heave of 13.64 meters.
On the women’s team, many strong performances came from the field. Senior Jaidyn Appel snagged the win in the high jump, clearing the nation’s top height at 1.77 meters. This also marked a personal best for Appel and she even reset her own school record.
Sophomore Sarah Firth also posted a personal best height of 3.90 meters in the pole vault. This height earned Firth the victory, ranked her No. 2 in Division III and notched her a school record. In the same event, Saturday marked a career-high for sophomore Nyla Thompson at 3.45 meters. Thompson took sixth at the Triangle Classic and bumped up to No. 43 in the national rank.
The hurdles were another place that the Jumbos shined at the Triangle Classic. Junior Maddy Silveira snagged not only a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles but also a win for Tufts at 9.57 seconds.
The women’s team also took first and second in the 5,000 meters, with first-year Vivian Lau snatching the victory with a collegiate-best time of 20:27.19 and senior Sarah Sandlow following right behind at 21:14.46.
First-year Lexi Dean also led the pack winning the 1,000 meters for the Jumbos. Dean ran a personal best time of 3:03.96 to snag the victory, with fellow first-year Julia Dolce following immediately after at 3:09.55 in second place.
First-year distance runner Gwenyth Stach wrote in an email to the Daily about the women’s team’s performance and feelings about the meet overall.
“It was a strong last meet before D3s, lots of people [earned personal records] and performed very well,” Stach wrote.
Stach, who is a member of both the track and cross-country teams, also talked about the team’s chemistry and connection during the competition.
“The team chemistry is really good, everyone is always cheering each other on and working together,” Stach wrote.
Following the Triangle Classic, the team prepares for the culmination of the indoor season: the Division III NECs at the New Balance track facility in Brighton. While not all members of the indoor teams will continue on to the championships, it is still an exciting moment for the Jumbo track and field programs.
“The team is really looking forward to D3s next weekend at the track at New Balance,” Stach wrote.
Like most travel events, the championships provide an opportunity for the ’Bos to not only compete on a larger scale but also continue to bond as a team and end their season, hopefully on a high note.
