Ephs Finish 2nd at NE Division III Championships
Hillary Higs '12
With 22 events scored Williams finished second at Division III New England. The final scoring left the Ephs with 143 to MIT's 152.50, the Ephs falling short by just 9.5 points.
In the women's heptathlon freshman Karyn Moss and sophomore Sara Turner had 4th and 5th place finishes overall. Together they came up big in the high jump and long jump in which Turner and Moss went one two in both events. Moss also went on to take 3rd place in the 100m hurdles.
Moving on to Friday senior Lauren Philbrook finished 2nd in the 10,000m race. Philbrook ran a very consistent race while her performance appeared effortless. She finished in a time of 37:20.22 acquiring 8 points for the Ephs. Fellow teammate Natalia Rey de Castro took 6th place contributing 3 points.
Saturday was the main event with Williams ready to battle for the coveted Division III New England title. The competition was tight in the field with the Ephs only pulling out points in the triple jump with freshman Karyn Moss' 7th place finish as she jumped 35-07.25, along with the previous points earned by Moss and her partner Turner in the heptathlon. The track was now left as the determining factor in who would take top honors.
Junior Elise Johnson contributed a standout performance and a total of 32 points! Johnson finished 1st in the 100m dash with a time of 12.62, while her teammate Hillary Higgs finished 4th in the 100m dash with a time of 12.82. Next up for Johnson was the 100m hurdles in which she finished 2nd boasting a time of 14.46. Johnson than ran the leadoff leg of the 2nd place finishing 4x100 meter relay team. The 4x100m relay team ran a time of 49.12; fellow junior Shawna McArdle, along with freshmen Kelsey Ham and Hillary Higgs, accompanied Johnson on the relay. Last up for Johnson would be the 200m dash in which she finished 3rd with a time of 25.84. Once again Johnson and Higgs ran together with Higgs also placing in the 200m taking 5th clocking in at 26.17.
Rounding out the sprints would be Kelsey Ham who claimed 4th place in the 400m dash with a personal best this season running 58.27. Junior Emily Heaslip joined Ham in the top 8 with a 7th place finish and personal best this season of 59.16. In the 800m it would the known duo of sophomores Lizzy Danhakl and Sara Wild placing 2nd and 4th. They grabbed 13 points for the Ephs with Danhakl running 2:14.18 and Wild running 2:16.30. Nora Mitchell clinched 4th place in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:05.10.
When the time spent on the track is a little bit longer captain Lauren Philbrook who doubled back from the 10k the night before won the 5k in outstanding fashion beating the competition by about 30 seconds. Philbrook came in at 17:12.69 while sophomore Megahan Shea took 2nd with 17.41.31. 18 points were tacked on to the Ephs score from the 5k race.
Meghan Shea would come up big with another 2nd place finish in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 10:54.90. Senior captain Robin Kuntz took 4th running 11:29.32. The 1500m was definitely a hard one to judge but in the end junior Olga Kondratjeva took a 4th place finish and sophomore Lizzy Danhakl would finish 6th.
At the end of the meet it would be the 4x800 and 4x400 meter relays as the final determining factors. Williams finished 2nd in both events. With 22 events now finished and scored the Ephs had solidified a second place finish falling just short of first. Captains Robin Kuntz and Lauren Philbrook believe "the team did great. It was completely a team effort and at the conclusion of the meet we still had some great performances." The captains also went on to say, "next year is definitely going to be our year. Our team is young and will only get better"
