The Tufts women's track and field team hosted its first home meet of the outdoor season on Saturday at Ellis Oval, where the Jumbos emerged victorious over the 23-team field, scoring 124 points, well above Boston College's second place total of 80 points and Northeastern University's third place total of 71 points.
"The whole team had an awesome day," freshman Paige Roberts said. "We won the meet by a huge margin, so our hard work is definitely paying off."
The meet featured many impressive performances from Tufts athletes, especially considering that the meet was, for most, their first of the season.
"The team looked really well prepared at this meet," senior captain Lilly Fisher said. "It's nice to start the season off at home, because we can be a little more relaxed and focus on just getting some good performances to start the season off with. We obviously aren't trying to peak in March, so this meet is always a good low-pressure way to get a baseline to work off of for the rest of the season."
The team's success at the meet was due in large part to its ever-reliable throwing squad. Senior Kelly Allen had yet another remarkable performance, earning points in four different events for the Jumbos to finish with a grand total of 22.
Her best performance came in the javelin, in which she earned second place with a throw of 121 feet three inches, but the senior also earned third-place finishes in discus, hammer throw and shot put, with throws of 143 feet four inches, 164 feet one inch and 42 feet 8 1/4 inches, respectively.
Allen was backed by classmate RonkeOyekunle, who won the shot put while placing fifth in the hammer throw and 12th in discus with distances of 43 feet 9 3/4 inches, 156 feet one inch and 108 feet two inches, respectively.
Senior Sabienne Brutus also made her mark in the throwing events, placing first in the hammer throw with a distance of 176 feet 4 inches, and 19th in shot put with a throw of 33 feet nine inches.
The best high jump for the Jumbos came from Roberts, who cleared 5 feet and one inch, and classmate Leah Potter earned seventh place in the event with a jump of four feet 11 inches.
"I feel great about my performance" Roberts said. "It was a good start to the outdoor season. It was very encouraging, especially because I had no misses through five feet one inch. Because we haven't jumped since indoor season I was nervous about how I would perform, but I felt fresh because of the time off, and it showed in my jumps."
Another very successful event for the Jumbos was the long jump. Senior Jana Hieber placed second with a jump of 17 feet six inches, while freshman Alexis Harrison and junior Anya Kaufmann placed fifth and sixth with jumps of 16 feet seven inches and 16 feet six inches, respectively. Kaufmann also placed fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.83.
On the track, the most successful race for the Jumbos was the 5000-meter run, in which Fisher finished second with a time of 17:50.67.
"I was really pleased and a little surprised about my performance at the meet," Fisher said. "Some health issues prevented me from racing during indoor track this winter, which was frustrating, but it did give me a head start on training for outdoor. A [personal record] in the first race in the season was really encouraging because it showed me that I wasn't wasting time during the winter by not racing, and reassured me that I'll be able to come back for this season."
Junior Jana Hieber took sixth place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.49 seconds, and freshman Marilyn Allen placed third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.58 seconds.
Next weekend, the Jumbos will look to continue their success at the Sam Howell and George Davis Invitationals next weekend.
"Our team is as good [as] or better than it's ever been," Fisher said. "Winning Indoor [Div. III New England Championships] was awesome, but I think the best is yet to come for Women's TUTF. There are a lot of events added in the outdoor season that our team excels at, and I think we're set up to have some really stellar performances this season."
