The women's track and field team finished third out of 22 teams at New Englands this weekend at MIT, placing second out of the NESCAC schools that competed.
Williams took the team title with 141 points and finished just ahead of the runner-up and host Engineers, who had 137 points. Tufts placed a distant third with 78 points, eight ahead of fourth-place finisher Middlebury.
While a third-place finish was not exactly what the team had hoped for coming into the meet, it was a strong performance marked by some great individual results.
"We went in to the meet hoping to win, but third was a little more realistic," senior Amy Wilfert said. "We needed a really great day to win the meet. The manner in which we got third was a little disappointing, because a lot of people weren't happy with their performances."
The meet was intense from start to finish and included one of the biggest crowds of the season.
"Everyone was really pumped up," sophomore Kelly Allen said. "It was awesome to see everyone cheering. A lot of people who weren't competing showed up and supported us as well."
Led by Allen, Tufts' two throwing events produced 19 of the Jumbos' total points. Allen continued her record-setting season with another victory in the shot put. Her throw of 41-11 1/2 is another personal best and improved on her provisional qualifying mark. Junior Ronke Oyekunle also scored, placing fifth with a throw of 39-8 1/2. In the weight throw, Allen placed fourth, with another personal best throw of 51-07.
Another highlight came in the 4x400, which the Jumbos needed to win to secure breathing room for the third-place slot.
"There was a lot of cheering for the 4x[400]," Wilfert said. "Everyone knew that we needed to win the event to take some pressure off ourselves. It was also at the end of the meet, so more people were done competing and able to cheer more."
The 4x400-meter relay squad did not let its cheering section down, taking first-place in the event for the second-straight year. The relay was led off by sophomore Samantha Bissonnette, who was followed by sophomore Alyssa Corrigan, junior Dayorsha Collins and freshman Jana Hieber. Together the team ran a 4:03.34 and comfortably beat out second-place finisher MIT.
Wilfert had a pair of impressive individual performances as well. She finished fourth in the mile, running a season-best 5:01.47. Later in the meet, she placed third in the 3,000-meter run. She fell short in the final lap, finishing third with a personal best time of 10:09.17, less than a second off the leader. Though the times were impressive, Wilfert was still hoping for a slightly better result.
"I made a bold move in the 3K with a few laps to go," Wilfert said. "It was disheartening to get passed with 100 meters to go. I still [set a personal record] so it was a good race, but I would have liked to have won especially when it was so close."
The jumping events were another great source of points for the Jumbos on Saturday. Junior Nakeisha Jones placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 38 feet. The jump was a season best and improved her provisional qualifying mark. Senior tri-captain Kanku Kabongo also scored, placing fifth with a jump of 36-6 1/4. In addition to her triple jump, Kabongo also had a great performance in the long jump. Coming into the meet seeded ninth, Kabongo finished second and tied her personal best with a jump of 17-8 1/4.
"Everyone was really excited about Kanku's performance in the long jump," Allen said. "She did much better than her seed and that is always great."
Junior Heather Theiss matched her school record in the pole vault, clearing 11-5 3/4. The performance was good for a fifth-place finish.
The 4x200 meter relay team also performed well, finishing fourth in a time of 1:48.57. Like the 4x400, the relay was led off by Bissonnette. She was followed by freshman Colleen Flanagan, senior Kaylee Maykranz and Hieber. The relay came down to the wire, with Hieber chasing down a Bates runner to take fourth place by just 14 hundredths of a second.
The Jumbos are now set to compete at the All-New England Championships at Boston University next weekend.
