One week after an impressive start to the outdoor season at the non?scoring Bridgewater Invitational, the women's track and field team returned to the Hill for its home opener at Ellis Oval in the Snowflake Classic on Saturday, which also was not scored. Despite unfavorable weather conditions in the early going, the Jumbos managed to secure two event victories and several top?five finishes.
"It was definitely a really big meet for us, in terms of numbers," senior tri?captainKayleyPettoruto said. "There were a lot of teams, over a thousand athletes, including a lot of Division I competitors, so it was very competitive for Tufts. It was a very long day, but we handled it very well."
"We had a lot more athletes competing this week - hurdlers, distance runners and a lot of people who we just weren't able to bring out during spring break," senior tri?captain Anya Price said. "It was a chance for people to shake off the dust, to try all the new events outdoors, and similar to Bridgewater we saw a lot of good performances."
On the field, junior thrower Kelly Allen once again flexed her NCAA Championship?qualifying muscles. She placed first in the discus throw with a heave of 145?7, secured second place in the hammer throw with a toss of 164?9 and earned a third?place finish in the shot put with a mark of 40?5. Fellow junior thrower Sabienne Brutus also showed her prowess with a toss of 148?10 in the hammer throw, good for fifth place.
At the other end of the field, senior Heather Theiss made highlights of her own in the pole vault. Having already set the school record for the event with a mark of 11?9 last year, Theiss reached new heights for the Jumbos by clearing an even 12?0 on Saturday for both a victory and a potential NCAA Championship qualification. In addition to Theiss, three other Jumbos finished in the top five in the pole vault or jumping events. Senior tri?captain Katherine Tang took fourth in the pole vault, clearing 2.75 meters; junior Leah Small finished fifth in the high jump, clearing the bar at 4?10; and sophomore Anya Kaufman placed fourth in the long jump, leaping 16?3.
Back on the track, the Jumbos pulled off a series of top?five performances. Freshman Caitlin Pohl impressed in the 400?meter hurdles, finishing in third with a time of 1:10.26. Freshman Christina Harvey, who showed promise at Bridgewater, stepped up to finish in 12.78 seconds in the 100?meter dash finals, good for a top?five placement after barely qualifying in the preliminary round. Sophomore Jana Hieber added to the Jumbos' accolades by claiming fourth place in the final round of the 100?meter hurdles with a time of 16.09 seconds.
The Jumbos put together another successful performance in the 4x100?meter relay. Kaufman, Harver, sophomore LaTishaCurtiss and junior Samantha Bissonnette combined to finish second with an impressive early?season time of 50 seconds flat.
"People are coming off a good winter. We're in shape, we're really excited about this season and we have a lot more cohesion entering this spring season," Pettoruto said. "Our goal is to win NESCACs, to keep going where we started off and to continue to qualify as many people as we can for the postseason."
Looking ahead to next weekend, coach Kristen Morwick and the team will travel to UMass Lowell for the George Davis Invitational.
