Second place finish for Jumbos at Tufts Invitational

After nipping at the heels of athletic juggernaut Williams for the majority of the meet, the women's track and field team ultimately conceded to a second place finish at the first Tufts Invitational of the new year. Though a victory over the Ephs would have been desirable, the day was nonetheless filled with a smattering of impressive individual accomplishments.

"The team really stepped up in ways they're not used to doing. I don't want to burden people too early in the season," coach Kristen Morwick said. "Overall I was pleased with the result, we were close to Williams, which is always good early season."

Of particular note was the performance put forth by junior Jessica Trombly. Accounting for about 40 team points, Trombly excelled in each event in which she competed. Her second place finish in the long jump was an indoor PR at 16' 10'', missing first place by centimeters.

Trombly smoked the competition in the 400 meter, with her time of 57.86 demolishing an old personal record by two seconds and qualifying her provisionally for the NCAA Championship meet. In the 200, Trombly's time of 25.77 was two-hundreths off the school record and more than a second ahead of the second place finisher, Colleen Doody of Williams. The ability to compete seriously in this variety of events bodes well for Trombly's future pentathlon ventures.

Sophomore Melissa Graveley also had an impressive day across multiple events as she too is being preened for the pentathlon. In the finals of the 55 hurdles, Graveley jumped from eighth to finish fourth overall, obtaining a PR of 9.67 in the process. She also leapt to second in the high jump, barely edged out at a height of 1.52 meters.

The throws continued with the steady improvement that has been expected this season. In the weight throw the Jumbos garnering the fifth through seventh spots with the throws of junior Jessica Gauthier (12.18 meters), and sophomores Jessica Colby (11.88) and Katie Antle (11.09). Colby's toss was an indoor PR.

Antle continued her dominance in the shot put despite a sore back, with a hurl of 11.88 meters good for third. Junior Gwen Campbell (10.89) and Colby (10.07) rounded out the Jumbos who secured points in the shot, placing fifth and seventh respectively. Campbell had a huge gain in her final throw that propelled her from eighth to fifth overall.

"They're all improving and making gains. It's nice that they're all getting in there and placing and improving a little every week," Morwick said.

Coming back from a semester abroad, junior Emily Bersin had a good race in the 600, placing fourth in 1:44.81. In the 1000 sophomore Katie Sheedy qualified for ECACs with her time of 3:09.82, good for seventh. Amid stiff competition in the 1500, Junior Lauren Caputo managed a sixth place finish in 4:52.99.

The 5000 also featured tough competition, in the form of Williams freshman Carolyn Cretti, who blew away the field with a time of 7:05.92, a mark which broke the facility record. However, the three Jumbos who also competed in the event all qualified for the Division III Championship meet, even though they had never run the event on the track. Freshman Becca Ades led the way in 9:22.25, with seniors Ashley Peterson (9:22.48) and Danielle Perrin (9:25.77) following close behind.

Though there were many admirable individual performances, it was a lack of depth due to sickness and injury that hindered the team. For instance, with pivotal senior tri-captain Myriam Claudio out there was no one to score in the pole vault. With only three competitors in the pole vault in this meet, any effort by a Jumbo would have resulted in obtaining valuable points. Likewise, points were lost in the 1000 and 1500 due to a lack of depth in the events.

"We lost by 20 points because there were gaps, and with eight places scoring you can't have that," Morwick said. "We lost points in jumps and sprints where there were injuries, and you can't do that in a little meet where everything is so close against a team like Williams."

This weekend's Quad Meet will allow an opportunity to compete against some top New York teams, including Cortland and NYU. It will provide some competition outside of the NESCAC and allow those who were injured and sick last week to show where they are at this point in the season.

"We're starting from a much better point this year, especially once we get the injured people going," Morwick said. "Williams has the quality in the distance events and loaded the right events to get by us, but that should all be different in a month or so."