Ephs win 8th straight NESCAC title
CLINTON NY- The Williams women had an outstanding meet on Saturday at the NESCAC conference championships, finishing 1st for the 8th consecutive year. The victory was a contribution from all event groups with heroic individual and relay performances in order to accumulate the winning score of 160.5 points. Before the meet, each coach emphasized that the meet would come down to the number of sixth, seventh, and eighth place finished that the team would have to fight for that would win the meet for them and this proved true for the Ephs.
The field events had a successful day starting off with freshmen Racahel Teitlebaum finishing second in the pole vault with a jump of 3.12 meters. In the jumps, Sara Turner soared to a height of 1.50 meters in the high jump and freshmen triple jumper Fhatarah Zinnamon captured a pivotal seventh place with a length of 10.34 meters. Javelin yielded many points for the ephs with the trio of freshmen Julia Cohan, sophomore Kristen Baldiga and senior Katie Stack placing third, fourth and sixth with throws of 33.1, 32.84, and 32.62 meters respectively. Lastly, in the shot-put, sprinter thrower senior Halley Smith took eighth place with a toss of 10.32 meters.
In the distance events, the Ephs continued to collect points starting with the 10k as junior Lauren Philbrook captured third with a time of 38:09.92. In the 3000 meter steeplechase freshmen Meghan Shea and sophomore Ellie Teitsworth took 5th and 6th for the women with times of 11:39.83 and 11:40.27 as the two have continued to improve throughout the duration of the season. The 1500 was another big event for the Ephs with 2nd, 6th, and 7th places being captured by the women. Olga Kondratjeva finished just behind the leader with a time of 4:35.71 which is a national qualifying time. In 6th and 7th places were freshmen Lizzie Danhakl and junior Laura Walls with times of 4:39.22 and 4:41.72. In the 800 meter run freshmen phenom Sara Wild took the event with a 2:14.13 with other great performances coming from sophomore Olga Kondratjeva coming in 3rd with a time of 2:16.96 and freshmen Kathie Nyholm coming in 6th with a time of 2:19.26.
The sprinting team had a historic day with track and meet records by sophomore Elise Johnson and senior Carrie Plitt. Johnson broke the track record in the prelims of the 100 hurdles running a 14.95 and then again in the finals with a 14.67. Johnson also took second in the 100 meter dash behind Tufts speedster Logan Crane with a time of 12.59 and third in the 200 with a 25.63. Also in the 100 meter dash sophomore Shawna McArdle ran a 12.97 capturing 5th as well as 6th in the 200 with a 26.11. To complete the sophomore senior dyn amic was sprint captain Carrie Plitt who performed exceptionally under pressure for the Ephs. Plitt won both the 200 and the 400 with times of 24.95 and 57.05 respectively. Sophomore Katie Dupre, coming off a recent stress fractgure, also had a great meet capturing 8th in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 16.51 as well as a 7th in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:06.92. Sophomore Nora Mitchell continued a trend of drastically improving upon her seed running in the slow heat of the 400 hurdles finishing with a time of 1:05.32 placing 3rd overall.
The Ephs swept all the relays with the 4X100 running 48.61, the 4X400 with a 3:54.73 and the 4X800 with a 9.20.64. The Ephs definitively captured this victory with a 40 point differentia l between Williams and rival Tufts. The next meet for the Ephs will be Division III New Englands next Saturday. Go Ephs!
