Some qualify for postseason in last meet

Though the event was non-scoring, the Tufts Stampede on Saturday proved a fruitful venture for the women's track and field team. A handful of Jumbos met postseason requirements and others improved on times that will move up their seed places. As the team heads into the Div. III Championships this weekend, it will have more options of who to put in each event given this past weekend's performances.

"I'm pretty sure that more than half the team PRed," senior Kristen Munson said. "A lot of the team ran really well -- the 4x4 team ran well and in the 3K they had ridiculous PRs -- basically everyone puts it on the line because it's a last chance meet. People just ran smart."

The distance squad put forth performances of note, in the 1000, 1500, and 3000 meter runs. Senior Mary Nodine finished third in the 1000, with a time of 3:10.04 -- about five seconds behind the nearest NESCAC foe in Amherst sophomore Carter Hamill, who took top honors in the event. Sophomore Emily Pfeil and senior Megan DiBiase qualified for Div. III's in the 1000 with their marks of 3:15.65 and 3:15.83, respectively.

In the 3000, junior Lauren Caputo and senior Danielle Perrin both posted significant PRs en route to a one-two finish with times of 10:30.72 and 10:37.20. Similarly, in the 1500, freshman Becca Ades (5:02.45) and senior Ashley Peterson (5:02.88) set PRs by five seconds as they garnered third and fourth places overall. These results give the distance squad a stronger presence at Div. III's as more people qualified and others bettered their times.

"It went well, we had some great performances. Getting a few more people qualified was great, everyone made little improvements," coach Kristen Morwick said.

Junior Jessica Trombly tied the school record and won the 200 with a time of 25.75 seconds. Freshman Rachel Bloom also snagged a PR in the event, ending up two spots behind Trombly at 26.36. Fellow sprinter, sophomore Ayako Sawanobori, was the lone Jumbo representative in the 55 dash. Her time of 7.86 was slightly faster than she normally runs it and was good for sixth place.

The Jumbos had four people in the top eight in the 600, more than any other team. Junior Emily Bersin was the top Jumbo finisher, coming in second at 1:40.74, and improved her qualifying time. Next was sophomore Claudia Clarke in 1:41.77, two spots behind Bersin. Freshman Daniela Fairchild (1:43.25) and junior Christine Hendrickson (1:43.95) crossed the line at sixth and seventh respectively.

Though the pentathlon has only been present in one meet this season, by meeting times in the five individual events, three Jumbos were able to qualify for the event. Freshman Megan Sears did so at the Stampede, and she will be joined by sophomore Melissa Graveley and junior Amy Spiker this coming weekend. Of the three, Graveley is the only one to have done a pentathlon this season, but both Sears and Spiker have competed in heptathlons in the past and are used to multi-events.

Before the Stampede, junior co-captain Jessica Gauthier was entered as the sole competitor in the weight throw. However, due to their efforts this past weekend, sophomore Jessica Colby and junior Gwen Campbell will be joining Gauthier in the event. Their lobs of 42' 4.25'' and 41' 5.25'' put them at seventh and ninth overall.

With the regular season over, coach Morwick has until Wednesday to make her final roster for the upcoming Div. III Championship. Though there will be some tough choices to be made, what remains to be done this week is to confirm who will be participating in each event as the team makes a run for the top three.

"I would expect nothing else from us right now, we'll be top three next weekend if people perform the way they have been," Munson said. "[The Tufts Stampede was] non-scoring so it's hard to assess in that way, but based on people's personal performances we're where we should be."