Ephs Win 25th Consecutive Little Three Title

Complete Results

For the 25th year in a row, the Williams women defeated both Amherst and Wesleyan to clinch the Little Three title. The Ephs earned 174 team points to Amherst's 114 and Wesleyan's 74. The weather was nice, team spirit soared, and top performances were delievered on the track.

After winning 24 years in a row most teams would have noted this meet as a win before it even happened. The Ephs on the other hand were taking every race one event at a time. Before the meet coach Joel Williams informed his athletes, "there are a lot of gaps this year, winning Little Three's is something we usually take a little lightly, but just as much effort and focus is needed this week as will be needed next week."

Some of the gaps were covered by standout athletes Sara Turner, a sophomore who was competeing in the heptathlon along with freshman Karyn Moss. Karyn Moss took second in the heptathlon and posted an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Sara Turner took third and qualified for Div. 3 New England.

Junior Elise Johnson, best known for the 100m hurdles, was also not able to complete this weekend. With holes in some of the sprint events and field events the Ephs pulled together for a solid win.

First year Kelsey Ham earned the most points for the Ephs grasping first place in three events and a second place finish in her final event to tally 26 points. Ham took her first event, the long jump by three inches. She jumped 16-04.25, keeping Wesleyan on her back. Later she would go on to win the 100m in 12.91, and run the second leg on the first place 4x100 team. Ham's second place finish would be in the 200m with a time of 26.41. Classmate Hillary Higgs won the 200m with a time of 25.99. Higgs who anchored the first place 4x100m team to a time of 49.64 came back to win the 400 in 59.28. She would end up with a total of 21 points for the Ephs. Lizzy Danhakl battled it out in the 800 against Wesleyan to come out on top winning by two seconds, Danhakl ran. 2:14.69. She was also on the first place 4x400m team that won in 4:01.62.

In the Little Three competition it was not just the first place finishes that mattered but second place was a necessary contribution. With the scoring system that only allows only the first two members of the same team that cross the line to earn points, clinching those second place spots helped out tremendously for the team. Junior Emily Heaslip was one of those contributors, as she took second in the 400m with a time of 59.85. Katie DuPré was a second place finisher in the 400m hurdles, and the 100m hurdles. Kylie Huckleberry, a sophomore and known as a 400m runner took second in the 100m dash -- although not her event she did it for the benefit of the team

Performance of the day goes to the women of the 1500m. Williams went one through five in outstanding fashion. These five women ran down till the end to see who would take first place. The top three runners would all go 4:40 and under. No surprise, except the fact it's about 3,000 meters less then she is used to, senior Lauren Philbroook won in 4:39.86. Second was sophomore Sara Wild who ran a smart and steady race finishing in 4:40.12. Third went to junior Ariel Williams finishing in at 4:40.31. Fourth was Meghan Shea with a time of 4:42.15. Senior Robin Kuntz took fifth with a 4:45.89.

Sophomores Rachel Teitelbum and Sara Bender went first and second in the pole volt. Best performance from the field goes to the javelin throwers as all three Ephs took the top three spots without breaking a sweat. Junior Julia Cohan came out on top throwing 117-06. Katrina Tulla, a sophomore, took second with 99-09; closely followed by Junior Kristen Baldiga throwing 98-07. Madeline Watson doubled it up taking first in the shot put and discus. Watson, only a freshman, threw 38-02.65 in the shot and 109-05 in the disc.

"Good team wins and performances all around," said Eph head coach Fletcher Brooks. "Now it is time to focus  on the NESCAC title."