Women's track and field place second

The women’s track and field team returned to St. Lawrence University on Saturday after finishing fourth the previous weekend in the Saints Indoor Classic. This time around, they improved upon their earlier performances, placing second to finish behind only the host team.With 134 total points, the UR women were by far the closest competition to the St. Lawrence team, which racked up 229 points. Placing third overall was Hamilton College, which totaled just 44 points. Nazareth College was fourth with 37 points, followed by SUNY Plattsburgh with 34, University of Ottawa with 15, and Alfred with 11 points. “I thought it was very successful, I was very pleased with our results,” Head Coach Barbara Hartwig said. As with the week before, the team once again emphasized the individual performances rather than focusing on the team as a whole. “We put a bit more emphasis on the team this week, but we still tried to do what’s best for our individuals to qualify [for the postseason meets],” Hartwig said. The team also benefited from the return of some of its members who were unable to compete the previous week. “We had almost the entire team there, but St. Lawrence had a lot of individuals who could fill in and get fourth and fifth place in a lot of events,” Hartwig said. The day started out strong for the women, as junior Effuah Alleyne earned the second scoring position in the 55-meter dash with a time of 8.04 seconds, contributing eight points to the team total. Junior Annie Barbi started what would turn out to be a very strong day with a seventh place finish in the 55-meter hurdles. In the 200-meter dash, junior Katie O’Brien scored first overall, running 27.42 seconds to earn 10 points for the team. Also in the 200-meter, senior Michelle Gabriele placed ninth with a time of 28.84 seconds to add six more points to the UR total. The trend would continue in the 400-meter dash, when O’Brien once again scored first overall, this time completing the race in 60.25 seconds. Once again she was followed by Gabriele, who scored third with a time of 63.97 seconds. In the 800-meter run, sophomore Kate Pohlman ran 2:26.39 to finish fourth overall. Placing sixth in the 800 was senior Lisa Brassaw, who ran 2:31.67. Freshman Charlotte Reardon ran a solid 1,000-meter run to finish fifth. In the 1,500-meter run, senior Elizabeth Canfield ran 5:05.14 to finish in second place. Sophomore Jessica VanBinsbergen ran 20:08.22 in the 5,000-meter run, finishing first overall. “She ran a smart race in the 5k. Hopefully that will give her some confidence in the upcoming meet,” Hartwig said.The women’s 4 x 200-meter relay team of freshman Allison Altman, senior Katrina Nowak, Barbi and sophomore Laura Porterfield ran 1:59.15, finishing in third place. The 4 x 400-meter relay team also had a strong day for the women, as freshman Whitney Silkworth, Pohlman, Gabriele, and O’Brien teamed up to finish first, crossing the line in 4:11.93. Although they could not contribute points in the event, the women’s ‘B’ team finished ahead of four of the competition’s ‘A’ teams in the 4 x 400.In last weekend’s meet, the women were carried by the throwing squad, which had an outstanding day. Although they didn’t quite match their outstanding success of the previous weekend, the throwers were once again quite solid on Saturday. The team’s success in the shot put continued as junior Grace Kraay, sophomore Cynthia Gurecki and freshman Maraea Toomalatai all scored points, placing fourth, sixth and seventh respectively. Gurecki added to her sixth place performance in the shot put with a fourth place finish in the weight throw, marking 12.12 meters. Finishing third in the event with a mark of 12.54 meters was junior Anne Baker.In the long jump, Gabriele added to her solid performances in the 200, 400 and 4 x 400 with a fifth place performance in the long jump, as she marked 4.59 meters. Also scoring in the event were Nowak and Barbi, who marked 4.53 meters and 4.36 meters to finish seventh and eighth respectively. Porterfield scored second place in the triple jump as she marked 9.58 meters. Barbi completed her stellar day with a victory in the high jump, as she marked 1.58 meters. “She had her best jump of the season,” Hartwick said. “She hasn’t really been pushed [in the high jump] to this point. I think she hasn’t reached her potential yet.” “By and large, everyone continued to get better,” Hartwick added. “Some of the throwers were a little disappointed that they didn’t have more personal records, but I’m very pleased with the progress that we’re making. In another month’s time I think we’re going to be very happy with our performances.” The team returns home this weekend to host the UR Invitational. They will continue to focus on individual performances at Saturday’s meet, as they continue to set up qualifying marks in as many events as possible. “I’m hoping at the conference meet that we can still be a top five team. We’ll know better where we’re going to stand in another couple of weeks,” Hartwig said. Swidler can be reached at dswidler@campustimes.org.