After winning the first Tufts Invitational on Jan. 15, the women's track team kept up its blistering pace with a second−place showing at the Springfield Invitational on Saturday. The Jumbos finished the day with 139.5 points, behind first−place MIT, who had 206.5.
Continuing their strong showing in the distance events, the Jumbos won both the 3,000 meters and the 5,000 meters. Senior Amy Wilfert won the 3,000−meter race in 10:15.54, gapping the second−place finisher by over eight seconds. Also scoring in the 3,000−meter were sophomore Lilly Fisher in a time of 10:39.77 and freshman Abby Barker in 10:46.81.
Freshman Lauren Creath took the victory in the 5,000−meter with a time of 18:48.86, beating out MIT sophomore Sarah Sprague in the last 100 meters. It was her second win in as many races, having won the 3,000 meter a weekend ago.
"I think the team was happy with our performances," sophomore Kelly Allen said. "These first two meets have been a great start to the season. As a team we want to get as many girls qualified as possible for Division III [Championships]. That way we can have a lot of depth."
The third victory for the Jumbos came from Allen in the shot put. She improved on both of her throws from the week before, besting last week's shot put by 14 meters. In addition to her first−place finish, Allen was third in the weight throw with a distance of 14.26 meters. Junior Ronke Oyekunle also contributed in the throwing events with a third−place finish in the shot put.
"With the weight throw, every week of drills and working on technique helps little things click," Allen said. "Every week I improve and the team improves but there is still a lot more to work on."
The Jumbos found success in the middle−distance events as well. After beginning the 1,000−meter event at a fast pace, sophomore Julia Hajnoczky finished fourth with a time of 3:13.14 with freshman Laura Peterson placing right behind her in 3:17.05.
In the 800 meters, three runners scored, led by senior Jennifer Yih. She placed third with a time of 2:30.10. Junior Lauren Flament, who is also a sports editor for the Daily, finished in 2:35.31, and freshman Bethanne Goldman ran a time of 2:37.94, good for sixth and seventh, respectively.
In the 400 meters, sophomore Samantha Bissonnette placed fifth with a time of 1:02.77. Fellow sophomore Alyssa Corrigan ran a 1:03.01, placing seventh.
Tufts' success continued in the 600 meters where freshman Jana Hieber finished second with a time of 1:40.73. She had another strong performance in the 55−meter hurdles, finishing sixth.
The order of events worked out in a way that made Hieber's day very tough. After competing in the 55−meter hurdle preliminaries in the morning, she came back in the afternoon to run the 600−meter and 55−meter hurdles final back−to−back. Even after a great effort in the 600, she was still able to pull out the sixth place finish in the hurdles.
"I was definitely worried about the hurdles right after the 600," Hieber said. "I still went all out in my first two races and I didn't hold anything back. I knew I was going to give whatever I had left in the finals of the hurdles. I have never had to do two running events so close together, but I was able to finish strong."
This weekend, the Jumbos will be split up, with some athletes competing in the Terrier Classic at Boston University and others in the MIT Invitational.
