Williamstown, MA--Despite threatening weather at home on Saturday, the Williams women dominated the Little Three Championship, coming away victorious over Amherst and Wesleyan for the 25th consecutive year. The Ephs won with 183 points to Amherst's 122 and Wesleyan's 84.
Intermittent rain showers and the threat of lightning did not stop the Ephs from bringing mental focus to the track, as they took control of the meet from the start. With the first running event of the meet, the 4x100m relay, Williams took the lead as Elise Johnson '10, Hillary Higgs '12, Tanasia Hoffler '13, and Katie DuPre '10 overcame some precarious hand-offs to win with a time of 50.85.
Higgs continued to dominate, winning both the 200m and 400m dashes. Rebecca Fine '13 had her best performance of the season, snagging 2nd place in the 400m in 1:00.78. The Ephs carried on the trend of victories in the sprints, with Johnson winning the 100m hurdles and Nora Mitchell '10 winning the 400m hurdles. In the latter event, Williams women took 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th places, taking complete ownership of the race.
In the 800m, Williams runners took the top three places, with Lizzy Danhakl '11 winning in 2:17.71, followed closely by Olga Kondratjeva '10 and Jess Clarke '10. Danhakl doubled in the 1500m, taking 2nd place with a time of 4:41.15, followed by Celeste Berg '12 in 3rd place. Berg finished .2 seconds within the standard to qualify for Div. III New Englands, running 4:53.71.
On the long distance side, the Ephs had strong performances in both the 3000m steeplechase and the 5000m. In the steeplechase, Elly Teitsworth '10 had a standout performance, setting a new meet record even as she ran the race entirely by herself. Teitsworth finished in 11:26.95, over a minute ahead of the second-place runner.
In the 5000m, Bret Scofield '10 snuck in just under 18 minutes, finishing 4th in 17:59.68, behind Amherst senior Sophia Galleher, and Wesleyan runners Ravenna Neville and Julia Mark. Sarah Tory '11 ran a PR of 18:36.47 for 5th place, followed by Elleree Erdos '12 in 18:42.41, a 27-second PR.
Field athletes also had a successful day, as several freshmen standouts proved to be valuable contributors. Julie Paschal '13 won the high jump, clearing 1.67m. Hoffler won the long jump, jumping 5.23m, followed by Karyn Moss '12 in 2nd and Brooke Johnson '13 in 3rd. The same three athletes took the top three places in the triple jump as well, with Hoffler making the winning jump of 11.79m to earn a provisional qualifier for nationals, followed by Johnson in 2nd and Moss in 3rd.
In the throws, Eileen Becker '12 and Madeline Watson '12 took 2nd and 3rd in the shot put. Jasmine Adekoya '13 and Watson snagged 1st and 2nd in the discus, both qualifying for Div. III Championships. Watson, Kathryn Evans '12, and Becker captured 2nd through 4th places in the hammer throw, though none were able to snag the qualifier for Div. IIIs. In the javelin, Julia Cohan '11 qualified for Div. IIIs with a winning throw of 32.31m.
The Ephs continue with the championship season next weekend as they compete in the NESCAC Championship at Tufts.
