Women's track and field finish in second again

The women’s track and field team continued to roll at Saturday’s UR Invitational. With 168 points, the women were a distant second behind Geneseo – 243 pts – but easily defeated Brockport – 120 pts – Nazareth – 24 pts – and Alfred State – 16 pts. “Again I was very pleased with the results. I feel like we’re continuing to improve and getting closer to our goals every week,” Head Coach Barbara Hartwig said.It was a very strong day for junior Effuah Alleyne, who placed sixth in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.92 seconds. She followed that up with a second place finish in the 200-meter dash, completing the event in 30.21 seconds. Also in the 200, freshman Melinda Huang ran 31.16 seconds to finish sixth. In the 400-meter dash, freshman Allison Altman ran 1:08.37 to finish second. Senior Michelle Gabriele took first place in the 500-meter dash with her time of 1:23.54, qualifying for Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships in the process. Junior Katie O’Brien dominated the 800-meter run, finishing in 2:20.89 for first place. This weekend she looks to defend last year’s victory in the 800 at Boston University. Sophomore Kate Pohlman also placed in the 800, finishing third overall in 2:28.58.In the 1,000-meter run, senior Erika Wasserstein ran 3:19.02 to finish in second place. She followed that up with a fifth place finish in the 1,500-meter run, placing five seconds behind senior Elizabeth Canfield, who ran 5:01.59 in the event. Sophomore Jessica VanBinsbergen continued to excel in the 5,000-meter run, as she completed the race in 19:46.30 to set a new personal best.In the 55-meter high hurdles, freshman Whitney Silkworth ran 9.38 seconds to finish third, edging junior Annie Barbi’s 9.57 finish, placing her fourth. With a group representing all class years, O’Brien, senior Katrina Nowak, Altman and sophomore Laura Porterfield teamed up to finish second in the 4 x 200-meter relay with a time of 1:57.95. Also finishing second was the 4 x 400-meter relay team, which ran 4:14.99. The distance medley team completed the race in 13:24.60 to finish third.Both Barbi and Huang topped earlier scoring performances in the high jump, which they finished second and third respectively, as both qualified for ECAC’s. Barbi’s outstanding day continued in the long jump, which she finished in fourth. “Annie had an awesome day. She had a personal best in the shot put, long jump and 55-meter hurdles. She’s really looking good going into the Conference Pentathlon Championship. She’s definitely going to be someone to be aware of in that event,” Hartwig said. In the long jump, she narrowly beat out Gabriele and Nowak, who were fifth and sixth. Porterfield marked 9.77 meters to finish third in the triple jump. In the 3,000-meter race walk, senior Lisa Brassaw finished in 18:04.19 to take first place and set a new school record. Once again the throwers were the story of the day, as the top thrower on the team placed no worse than second in any event. The women were simply dominating in the shot put, as junior Grace Kraay, sophomore Cynthia Gurecki, freshman Maraea Toomalatai and Barbi were second, third, fourth, and sixth, respectively, combining for 20 points in the event. Gurecki’s mark of 11.08 meters was a new personal best. She also had a solid performance in the weight throw, as she marked 13.09 meters to finish fourth. Anne Baker won the event with a mark of 14.08 meters, qualifying her for ECAC’s. “She continues to be on a roll. She has set some high goals for herself and is working really hard to obtain them. It’s really paying off,” Hartwig said.”The throwers did an awesome job as a group once again. There were a lot of p.r.’s, and we gathered a lot of points in that crew,” Hartwig said.On a whole, it was a very successful day for the women. “We scored points in a number of events, and everyone helped contribute. We went into the event concentrating on what the individuals needed, and it turned out well teamwise for us. I’m impressed at how hard everyone has been working and I’m happy that it’s paying off. We’re hoping over the next couple weeks that people will stay healthy so that we can make our best run at the postseason events,” Hartwig said.This weekend, the team will split up, as ten of the women will travel to Boston University, with the majority of the team going to Cornell. In both meets, the women will continue to focus on qualifying and preparing for ECAC’s and the other postseason meets. These two meets will be an excellent opportunity to do so, as both will have very strong competition. “Last year, both of these meets produced some great results,” Hartwig said. If the team continues to perform as it has so far this season, they should be highly successful in future meets. Swidler can be reached at dswidler@campustimes.org.