Women's T&F take on top competition in Boston
At one of the premier track meets of the season, the Valentine Invitational - hosted by Boston University, Williams athletes competed with the best the northeast has to offer both collegiately and professionally.
In addition to the national-caliber competition, the Valentine Invitational provided the Williams women with opportunity to race in high-pressure situations, much like they will during the upcoming championship races as post-season competition approaches. By the looks of things, the Ephs are ready.
Two of the best performances of the meet came from senior milers Lissy Robie and Laura Walls, as the two raced together and qualified provisionally for the NCAA Division III National Championship meet. The two worked with each other and crossed the line less than a second apart: Walls came through in 5:02.83, with Robie right behind in 5:03.18. Sophomore Bret Scofield finished four seconds farther back in the results, in a time of 5:07.77. To give an idea of the competitiveness of the races, 10 people placed between Scofield and Robie with only four seconds separating finishers 16 through 27.
Cutting down to the half mile, sophomore Ariel Williams continued her early-season success with a time of 2:15.91. Junior Robin Kuntz, back on campus after a semester abroad, is already running well. She finished four seconds back in a time of 2:19.72. Nora Mitchell '10, had a solid race, finishing after Kuntz in 2:21.49.
In the sprint events, senior Carrie Plitt led Eph 200 meter dash runners, crossing the line in 26.01 seconds. Shawna McArdle '10 also ran the 200, finishing a little farther back in a time of 27.35 seconds. Sophomore Emily Heaslip ran double the distance, clocking a sub-60 second 400 meter dash in 59:46 seconds. Veronica Ivey '08 and Heather Bemis '09 both ran the 500 meter dash, finishing only four places apart in 1:20.74 and 1:21.35 seconds, respectively.
The longest contested race, the 5000 meter run, allowed some of the long-distance lopers to stride things out over 25 laps of the track. Lauren Philbrook '09 led the Ephs with a finishing time of 18:14.35. Fellow junior Natalia Rey de Castro came through just eight seconds back in 18:26.68, with Beth Links '09 finishing a little over a minute behind in 19:36.17
Four Eph runners returned to race again on Saturday in the distance medley relay, which features a 1200 meter leg, followed by 400, 800 and 1600 meter legs. The women's time of 11:56.23 was well under the NCAA provisional qualifying time of 12:15.50, and only five seconds off the automatic qualifying time of 11:51.10.
The strong performances all across the board bode well for the post-season. With many provisional qualifiers for nationals, and many others on their way towards similar marks, the late season should hold success. The next meet for the women is the Tufts Invitational next weekend on February 16.
