The women’s track and field team this Saturday captured the NESCAC Championship at home, the program’s first conference title since 1988. The team scored a meet-high 203 points, besting second place Middlebury’s 117.5 points and third place Colby College’s 109.50. The win snapped Williams College’s streak of 12 consecutive NESCAC Championships.
“It feels amazing that we won, especially on our home track,” freshman Audrey Gould said. “The energy on both the men’s and women’s teams was so incredible when they announced the results.”
Senior quad-captain Kelly Allen led the team on Saturday with her three wins in the shot put, discus and hammer throw proving crucial to the team’s victory. Allen won the shot put with a throw of 43 feet and 1 inch, the discus with a throw of 153 feet 2 inches and the hammer throw with a toss of 172 feet 10 inches.
The Jumbos also got a number of stellar performances from freshman Alexis Harrison, who peaked at the right time on Saturday. She competed in four events, recording personal bests in all of them.
Harrison placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.38 seconds, third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.65 seconds and finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet 6 1/4 inches. She also anchored the 4x100-meter relay team that placed first with a time of 48.27 seconds.
That time in the relay set a new NESCAC record, as the 4x100-meter team of senior Samantha Bissonnette, Harrison, sophomore Christina Harvey and junior Anya Kaufmann took the win.
“I was very happy with my performance,” Harrison said. “Our whole team performed great and left their hearts on the track.”
Another top performer for the Jumbos on Saturday was junior Jana Hieber. Hieber won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.80 — her third consecutive NESCAC title in the event — and placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.87 seconds and sixth in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet 5 1/2 inches. She also anchored the 4x400-meter relay team that placed fourth with a time of 4:00.98.
Many team members expressed delight that they were able to earn a win for the seniors in their final home meet.
“It was really great to see how happy the seniors were,” freshman Leah Potter said. “We wanted to win this for them.”
“It feels amazing to be NESCAC champions. I was especially glad that our amazing seniors were able to experience this win,” Harrison added.
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