The women's track and field team won the Tufts Invitational Stampede in dominant fashion at the Gantcher Center this weekend, defeating 18 other teams. The team scored 192 points, nearly 100 more than second-place finisher Worcester State's 99.
Tufts netted five first-place finishes and had at least one top-five finisher in 13 out of 20 events.
Junior Kelly Allen led the way for the Jumbos, finishing first in the weight throw and the shot put and continuing her trend as the team leader in overall points. Allen broke her own school record of 16.31 m in the weight throw with a throw of 16.54 m, as well as her own school record of 12.86 m in the shot put with a 13.09 m toss.
"I'm really happy with how this weekend went," Allen said. "For me right now, it's about maintaining good distances and getting ready for championship season. I want to be able to pull out my best throws during championship season, so hopefully my training will lead to the ultimate goal of competing at Nationals in March."
Allen wasn't the only Jumbo to break a school record this weekend. On Friday, sophomore Jana Hieber came in second in the pentathalon, scoring 3,236 points and breaking the record of 3,198 set in 2004 by Jessica Trombly. Heiber finished first in the pentathalon's 800 m event, second in the long jump and 60 m hurdles, and third in the high jump.
Samantha Bissonnette finished first in the 800 m, setting a personal record of 2:23.59. She also helped the 4x400 m relay team — consisting of sophomore Colleen Flanagan, junior Alyssa Corrigan and senior Dayorsha Collins — to a third-place finish.
Senior tri-captain Anya Price finished first in the 3K in 10:30.86. Sophomore Lauren Creath and freshman Lindsay Rogers also finished in the top 50, as Creath set a new personal record with a time of 10:36.50. Price also contriubted to a second-place finish for Tufts in the 4x800 m relay.
"We got a chance individually to do our best," Creath said. "More impressive was what we were able to do as a team."
Senior Heather Theiss, who jumped 3.50 m, provided the Jumbos with yet another first-place finish in the pole vault. Senior Katherine Tang finished third overall with a jump of 2.90 m.
"The strong finishes across the board were a testament to the depth of the team," senior tri-captain KayleyPettoruto said.
That depth continued to pay dividends in the one mile event, with sophomores Madeleine Carey, Molly Mirhashem, Abby Garbes, Laura Barker and freshman Cami Fisher all finishing in the top 10. Carey led the way, finishing third with a 5:22.77 mile. As a unit, the runners combined to produce 12 points for the team.
Next weekend, the team will head to Boston University for the Valentine Invitational, where the Jumbos will look to take advantage of BU's pristine facilities to set personal records and qualify for the next three weekends' events — the Div. III Championships, East Coast Championships and Nationals, respectively.
