Women finish third at Div. IIIs

After a successful spring campaign, which culminated in a second-place finish at NESCACs, the women's track and field team will continue well into the postseason thanks to some impressive individual performances. The last big push will be getting as many Jumbo representatives as possible to the NCAA Div. III Championship meet, which will take place from May 22-24 in Canton, NY at St. Lawrence University.

Over the weekend of May 1-3, a whittled-down version of the squad squared off against the best that schools in New England Div. III have to offer. Even though many Jumbos were unable to attend due to the rigors of the final exam schedule, the contingent that did attend racked up enough points to finish third overall. With a total of 189 points Williams College took a commanding first-place finish, while second-place Colby College was just over 20 points ahead of Tufts'' 86.

"We didn't load the lineup, just put people in events they wanted to run and got third easily which was nice to see," coach Kristen Morwick said. "Colby was just ahead of us, and if we'd gone after them we would have easily been second."

The results of the meet boasted a slew of PRs, as well as some newly attained school records and NCAA qualifying marks. The dynamic steeplechase senior duo of Danielle Perrin and Mary Nodine took third and fourth in the event with close times of 11:19.79 and 11:19.91, respectively. Both easily met the NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 11:30.00 - the event has no automatic qualifying time.

In the same event, junior Lauren Caputo ran a PR to finish sixth in 11:35.80, and freshman Emily Pfeil posted a 20 second PR of 12:03.55, which qualified her for the ECAC Championship meet.

The multi-events also elicited PRs from the Jumbos partaking in the event. Sophomore Melissa Graveley was two points shy of amassing an impressive 3900 points in the heptathlon. Her effort was good for fourth place overall and brought forth PRs in the high jump, long jump, and the 800. After a disappointing start in the hurdles that put her in last place, freshman Megan Sears fought her way back with PRs in the high jump, 200, and 800 to end up in sixth overall at the end of the two day competition.

Never one to shy away from the top spot, junior Jess Trombly competed in four events, placing first in all but one. Trombly won the 100 hurdles in 15.21 and the 400 hurdles in 1:02.28, with the latter being both a new school record and a NCAA automatic qualifying mark.

She also partook in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays, with the 4x100 - comprised of senior Myriam Claudio, Trombly, sophomore Ayako Sawanobori, and freshman Rachel Bloom - sprinting to first in a solid time of 48.99. The 4x400 team - composed of junior Emily Bersin, Bloom, sophomore Sika Henry, and Trombly - came out in second place with a time of 3:55.46. Though the time was good enough for an NCAA provisional qualifying mark, Morwick claimed that the 4x400 team can run faster.

In addition to contributing to two relays, Bloom also took part in the 200 dash, reaching a PR of 25.71 that propelled her to third place overall.

The throws were also represented with Jumbos finishing in the top scoring eight in the shot put and the discus. Sophomore Katie Antle garnered eighth place with her lob of 39' 3.75'' in the shot put, while junior Kate Gluckman let the discus sail in her second place effort. Gluckman's toss of 133' was close to both a school record and the NCAA qualifying mark.

"In general it was a great meet, considering the academic stress we were under," Morwick said. "The outdoor season has been a big push, it's a long year and people are pretty tired, but we've managed to hit our goals: top two at NESCACs and top three at New Englands. At this point we're shooting for more [NCAA] qualifiers."

As of the New England Div. III Championship meet, the squad had two relays and four individuals poised to make the trip to Canton, NY. The 4x100 and 4x400 are in, as are Graveley in the high jump, Nodine and Perrin in the 3000 steeplechase, and Trombly in the heptathlon, 400 hurdles, and 100 hurdles. Between New Englands and Nationals, Morwick hopes to see a few athletes who are close to qualifying meet their marks. These include Bersin in the 400 hurdles, Gluckman in the discus and Claudio in the pole vault.

"We need to improve on our provisional marks and I hope to get as many people in as I can," Morwick said. "We want a big contingent this year, just the experience of us going gives us a leg up on next year.

Even if all the individuals who should go to Nationals do not, the season has seen many other marks surpassed. Numerous school records have been broken, some multiple times within the season. Included in those shattering school marks are Perrin in the steeplechase, Claudio in the pole vault, Claudio, Bloom, Trombly, and Sawanobori in the 4x100, and Trombly in the 400 hurdles and heptathlon. With only a few - albeit key - members lost to graduation this year, the team has a good base to build upon in the upcoming year.

"In general people are performing well, we've done well as a team and we're hoping to get some more great performances and bring a whole group to St. Lawrence for Nationals this year," Morwick said. "We are still a very young team and have lots of room for growth, we're only getting better. We have a solid hold on the number two spot in New England and the NESCAC and are competing more consistently and with a lot more desire and determination."