The reigning Div. III New England indoor track champions returned to the oval at Springfield College last weekend looking to defend their championship. Strong pushes from Williams and MIT, however, were just too much for Tufts. The Jumbos ended up in third place at the championship meet.
Williams took first with 150 points, while MIT was second with 119. Tufts finished third in the competition with 94 points.
We knew we had a target on our backs going into the meet since we won it last year," sophomore Alexis Harrison told the Daily in an email. "The goal was for everyone to give 110 percent in their respective events and cheer each other on to keep the energy going."
Harrison was able to get a big victory in the 60-meter dash, as she just edged out senior Naomi Bates of Amherst by 0.02 seconds. Harrison's time set a new school record for the event, and was a new personal record for the relatively young sprinter.
She broke the record set earlier in the day by senior tri-captain Anya Kaufmann, who has been a force to be reckoned with in the sprints all season. Kaufmann's time of 7.85 seconds in the preliminaries was a new school record for a few minutes. Her time qualified her for the finals, in which she placed eighth overall.
In the 60-meter hurdles, the Jumbos went to sophomore Marilyn Allen and multi-event specialist senior Jana Hieber to score their points. They grabbed the fifth and sixth qualifying spots in the preliminaries, respectively, and later returned in the finals.
Allen placed fourth overall by clearing the barriers in 9.13 seconds, while Hieber was sixth with a time of 9.24 seconds.
The sprinters also had impressive performances in both the 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays, placing second in both events. Both relay teams set new season-best times, as the 4x200 team came in right behind Williams with a time of 1:45.50, while the 4x400 team also finished behind the meet champs with a time of 4:02.91.
As the battle for points progressed throughout the day, Tufts earned a valuable seven points from the 600-meter run. Junior Lauren Gormer and Hieber went fifth and sixth in the race, crossing the line in 1:40.03 and 1:40.22, respectively.
Senior tri-captain Laura Peterson and senior Grace House were also able to place in the race. Peterson, a sub-three minute athlete who set a personal record in the mile a few weeks ago at the Tufts Stampede, took fifth by running a time of 3:05.96. House placed seventh overall out of the first heat, as she won her section in 3:07.67
