The women's track and field team posted respectable performances at the past two weekends' invitationals. At the Open New England Championships, which includes teams from all three NCAA divisions, the team ended up tied for ninth place with Colby, Amherst and Williams during the weekend of May 9-10.
With a score of 66.50 points at the New England Div. III Championships hosted by Coast Guard the week before, the Jumbos captured fifth place while Williams came out on top.
The Jumbos traveled to Durham, N.H. for the Open New England Championships, where they notched a score of 24 points to tie for ninth place overall.
Senior co-captain Cat Beck and senior Katy O'Brien combined for 13 points in the 1,500-meter run. Beck won the event with her time of 4:30.91, which is now the fastest time in the country for all of Div. III. It automatically qualified her for Nationals, which take place May 22-24.
This is not Beck's first Open New England title, as she won the same event in 2006. O'Brien's time of 4:35.18 earned her sixth place, while freshman Stephanie McNamara finished in 10th place in 4:36.77. Both of these times were improvements on the girls' NCAA provisional qualifying marks.
With several days remaining before Nationals, McNamara has been focusing on a new strategy for the 1,500.
"I just stayed relaxed for the first half, and then I felt good for the second half, so I just went for it," McNamara said. "Coach and I have been trying to work on conserving, because one of my biggest problems is patience. It's nice having a reserve to kick in at the end, and yesterday I was able to pull out a little earlier and be aggressive at the finish. It's always a learning experience."
Sophomore Logan Crane was once again a force in sprinting, as she came in fifth place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.55 seconds. She was the only Div. III runner to qualify for the finals in the event.
Meanwhile, the 4x100-meter relay team consisting of Crane, senior Jenna Weir, senior co-captain Kaleigh Fitzpatrick and sophomore Andrea Ferri finished in sixth place in 48.76 seconds, just missing the NCAA provisional standard.
As for New England Div. III Championships the prior week, the Jumbos excelled in sprinting and field events. Crane once again reaffirmed her status as the fastest sprinter in the region at the Div. III meet, winning the 100-meter dash and anchoring the victorious 4x100-meter relay. The relay squad edged the team from Williams by three-tenths of a second to win the race.
Although not qualified for Nationals yet, Crane hopes to improve her 100-meter dash time within the next week.
"Jumping and running are so mental that if you let anything interfere it's going to [mess it up]," she said. "I'm really focusing on my start - how to get out faster. I've been having trouble with that the past few weeks."
In field events, freshman Allison Fechter had an exciting day as she established a new school record in the pole vault. Fechter cleared 10 feet, 8 inches, which surpassed the previous record holder's mark of 10 feet, 6 inches from Myrium Claudio (LA '03) in 2003. Fechter's performance earned her third place at the meet.
Freshman Kanku Kabongo continued her consistently-top performances in the triple jump. Her leap of 11.09 meters earned her second place in the event. In the long jump, Weir also came in second place, leaping 5.21 meters. Crane finished behind her in sixth place.
At press time, the Jumbos only Nationals qualifiers are Beck and O'Brien, with McNamara's status still uncertain. There is also a good chance that the Jumbos will be dispatching the 4x400 or 4x100 relay teams, along with Crane.
Unlike the indoor season, where the focus was on the distance medley relay team, this season's Nationals will have a different feel. So far, those who are definitely qualified are running individual, rather than team, events.
"The mentality is much different for a relay [compared to an individual race]," Crane said. "It's more at a personal level; you really have to give it your all. At Nationals, there are a lot less people there so your support is much smaller than during the regular season."
