Editor’s note: Sarah Firth is a staff writer and features editor at the Daily. Firth was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.
Last weekend, the men’s and women’s track and field teams took on the New England Division III Championships at the TRACK at new balance. The 3-day championship was the culmination of an impressive indoor season for the Jumbos. Both teams secured top 10 finishes, with the men’s team placing second out of 26 teams with 106.5 points, and the women’s team placing 10th out of 27 teams with 30 points.
The women’s team had several notable performances, including junior Sarah Firth, who placed third in the pole vault with a season best of 3.83 meters.
Although Firth has yet to set a PR this season, her season average has been impressive as she has yet to jump below 3.70 meters. Remarking on her consistency, Firth said that her average is “good for me, and it's also good for the team, because then I can be more dependable and put those marks up when it counts.”
Firth expressed that the team is rebuilding after graduating some of its core talent, which included a handful of All-Americans. Despite this, they have kept their focus on improving individually and as a team to achieve the best results possible.
“Going into this meet, because we had graduated so many people … we weren’t expecting to do as well as we had in past years. But everybody still went in looking to score points for the team, looking to contribute in the ways they could.”
According to Firth, much of the team’s success this year has been due in large part to first-years, who are “stepping up to try and support the people [the team] lost, the people who graduated.”
Additionally, the Jumbos scored three top 10 finishes in the women’s 600-meter, with seniors Antonia Knoth and Emily Sverak in eighth and ninth with times of 1:39.73 and 1:39.94, respectively, and junior Ameilia Neiman in tenth with a time of 1:40.82. In the 800-meter, junior Emma Smith placed ninth with a time of 2:20.66. The Jumbos notched two top-five finishes in the women’s 100-meter. Sophomore Alexandra Dean came in fourth with a time of 3:00.32, and senior Rose Kitz came in fifth with a time of 3:02.81. The women’s triple jump featured two top 10 finishes, with junior Jordan Andrew and senior Maelynn Ugokwe placing sixth with 11.16 meters and eighth with 11.03 meters, respectively.
The women had standout performances in the relays, where they placed seventh in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 4:01.82, eighth in the 4x800 meter relay with a time of 9:45.82, and seventh in the distance medley relay, with a time of 12:43.72.
In the pentathlon, the women had three top-10 finishes. Senior Madelyn Silveira had a season best and finished fifth with 3,095 points. In ninth place was senior Sydney Spivy with a total of 2,693 points, a personal best point total. Finally, first-year Tessa Player earned 10th place with 2,590 points, her best in college.
Pivoting to the men’s team, graduate student Carter Rosewell had a record breaking performance, placing first in the heptathlon. Roswell earned 5,014 points, which broke his own school record and placed him at 10th in the nation. Roswell’s first-place finish included five top-two finishes out of the seven events that constitute the heptathlon.
Other notable performances include senior Luke Botsford. Botsford set a new school record in the 200-meter, placing first and clocking in at 21.53, which places him at 11th in Division III. Additionally, Botsford placed first in the 400-meter with a time of 48.02, and seventh in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.96. Botsford’s 22 points account for just under 21% of the Jumbos’ total points last weekend.
Close behind Botsford in the 200-meter was graduate student Alex Lemieux, who placed 10th and clocked in at 22.20. In the 400-meters Botsford was followed by first-year Neil Chowdhury in fourth place and Noah Turner in seventh place, who ran 49.05 and 49.55, respectively.
In the 600-meter, sophomore Cameron McLeod placed fifth with a time of 1:22.38, while in the 800-meter senior Jackson O’Toole placed eighth with a time of 1:54.36. The Jumbos had a strong finish in the 1000-meter when first-year Simon Donovan ran a time of 2:32.38, placing sixth. The team boasted a third-place finish in the 3000-meter thanks to junior Ivan Appleton’s time of 8:15.80. In the 5000-meter, sophomore Luke Brennan placed sixth with a time of 14:48.90. The men’s team notched a second-place finish in the 4x400 meter relay, 13th place in the 4x800 meter relay and third place in the distance medley with a time of 10:16.68.
The men also had an incredible showing in the field events. The Jumbos swept second through fifth place in the high jump thanks to senior Harry Rienecker-Found, junior Edward Kiboma, first-year Sami Witta and junior Karsten Kropp. First-year Ryder Kropiwnicki placed sixth in the pole vault at 4.54 meters, and sophomore Sahr Matturi placed fourth in the triple jump at 13.87 meters.
The Jumbos will now advance to the NEICAAA Championships, which start Fri., March 1.
