Teams: Women's Track & Field: Press Releases

RELAYS LEAD JUMBOS TO SECOND AT NEW ENGLAND MEET

4x800 smashes 11-year old Tufts record

NORTHAMPTON -- The Tufts University 4x400 meter and 4x800 meter relay teams both ran to victory, leading Tufts to a second-place effort at the New England Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Smith College on Saturday.

The Jumbos scored 125 points at the meet, second only to Williams College at 212 and far ahead of third-place Amherst College at 73 points. Tufts used its depth to accumulate their runner-up performance in the region. Head coach Kristen Morwick's team scored in all but three events.

The meet featured an exciting finish for Tufts as they took the 4x4 and 4x8 at the end of the meet. The 4x8 of Katie Sheedy (Reading, MA), Anna Shih (Pittsford, NY), Katy O'Brien (North Easton, MA) and Laura Walls (Clarksville, MD) breezed to victory over second place Amherst, winning by five seconds with a time of 9 minutes, 29.07 seconds that smashed the school record of 9:35 set in 1992. The 4x4 group of Claudia Clarke (Lynn, MA), Rachel Bloom (Sharon, MA), Kate Makai (Brookfield, CT) and Jillian Warner (Long Valley, NJ) nipped Amherst with its time of 4:07.43. The 4x2 was fourth in 1:49.08, helping the Jumbos total 27 relay points.

Sophomores Warner and Bloom also both scored points in two sprint events for the Jumbos. Warner was third in the 200 meter dash (26.49 seconds) and sixth in the 55 meter dash (7.62 seconds). Bloom ran 26.80 seconds for fifth place in the 200 and was fourth in the 400 with a time of 1:00.43.

Among the points scored in the middle distance runs were 16 in the 1,000 with three Jumbo finishers. Sophomore Sarah Crispin (Auburn, ME) took second place in 3:00.44, followed by tri-captain Sheedy fourth in 3:03.68 and Shih sixth in 3:06.47. Walls ran third in the 800 meter run, timing 2:18.30.

The top individual performances for Tufts came in the distance runs. Sophomore Raquel Morgan (Middletown, MD) was second in the 5,000 with a 17:52.16 finish that is an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. The 3,000 meter run saw freshman Catherine Beck (Brookline, NY) also run a big PR, crossing the finish line third in 10:12.43.

The Jumbos also put three competitors in the top eight for the triple jump. Freshman Catherine Greenlee (Kaneohe, HI) was fourth with a leap of 34 feet, 10 1/4 inches (10.62 meters). Freshman Kaleigh Fitzpatrick (Lynnfield, MA) was next best at 34'7 1/2" (10.55m) for fifth place, with freshman Jenna Weir (New York, NY) sixth at 34'7" (10.54m). Weir also took third in the long jump, reaching 16'10 3/4" (5.15m).

The Jumbos were also predominant in the pentathlon competition, with Kenzie Rawcliffe (Winterport, ME) earning third place with 2,935 points. One point behind her in fourth was Daniela Fairchild (Somerset, MA) and sophomore Maggie Clary (Grantham, NH) placed eighth with 2,687 points. Rawcliffe also was fifth in the 55 meter hurdles, finishing in 8.91 seconds.

Tufts only failed to score in the pole vault, shot put and weight throw.

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