The George Davis Invitational, hosted by UMass Lowell, provided a level of competition for the Jumbos that sparked season and personal bests across the board. The warm, sunny weather brought out some sizzling Tufts performances.
"The weather was perfect for competing this weekend," senior Jen Yih said. "I didn't warm up as much as I normally do, but it worked out because it was warm enough out."
Yih posted a personal best time in the 800-meter race, finishing 10th with a time of 2:23.89 in her first half-mile of the season.
"The race went out hard for the first 200 [meters], but then slowed down a little in the next 200," Yih said. "I knew that there were Division I and II runners in my heat, so I just wanted to get out and get in a good position. With 300 to go I was still with the lead pack and then decided to really start picking up my pace. With 150 to go, I really made a strong move to the finish and passed a few girls."
In addition to Yih's success, three Jumbos hit provisional qualifiers for the NCAA Championships. Among the top performers at the meet was sophomore Kelly Allen, who participated in four events and finished no worse than sixth place in any of them. Of Allen's four events, the javelin and discus throw were season bests, with the latter resulting in a victory. She threw the discus 139-10, improving the NCAA provisional qualifying mark she had set two weeks earlier.
Allen's sights are primarily set on traveling to nationals in the discus; early success in the hammer throw has her thinking that earning a spot in both events may be possible. Allen came in fourth in both the hammer throw and the javelin this weekend, throwing 148-03 and 119-03 feet, respectively, though she was unable to improve upon her provisional hammer throw mark of 162-11, set at the Westfield State Invitational on March 26.
"Hammer throw has been a complete surprise this year," she said. "I opened up the season with a huge personal best. If I can add a meter or two more it might be good enough to travel. My main focus is discus, but the hammer would be an added bonus."
The most impressive part of Allen's day was her ability to compete at a high level in four events on one of the hottest days of the year. Allen added a sixth-place finish in the shot put — with a 40-01 1/2 throw — to her three top-4 showings.
"I don't usually do all four events, mostly three," Allen said. "It's very exhausting thinking about it, but I know I just have to get out there and take it one throw at a time. It's difficult, but fun at the same time."
Freshman Jana Hieber, who gained experience competing in multiple events as a pentathlete during the indoor season, also excelled in a number of events this weekend.
Hieber picked up right where she left off this winter and posted a provisional qualifying time of 1:03.73 in a 400 hurdles victory, putting her at 14th nationally. Hieber also ran the 100 hurdles, finishing tenth, and anchored the third-place 4x400 meter relay, which also included freshman Colleen Flanagan and sophomores Sam Bissonnette and Alyssa Corrigan.
The third Jumbo to record a provisional qualifying mark for nationals was junior Nakeisha Jones. Jones won the triple jump by four inches with her jump of 38-6 1/4. She is ranked sixth in the country in the event, and is less than a foot away from qualifying automatically.
Other notable performances included senior tri-captain Kanku Kabongo's fifth-place finish in the 100-meter dash. She clocked in at 13.08 in her first open 100 meter of the season, while Bissonnette finished tied for sixth in the event in 13.25.
While the field events and shorter races provided much of the action for the Jumbos, there were also solid performances in the distance events. Senior Amy Wilfert finished fifth in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in a time of 11:16.86, less than five seconds off her personal best. Freshman Lauren Creath, in her first race of the season, finished fifth in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 19:03.77.
Next weekend the Jumbos will not have to travel far when they participate in the MIT Invitational.
