Women compete in suburbia

Despite the inclement weather that has prevented the women’s track and field team from practicing outside for much of the outdoor season, the women have continued to improve as the postseason rapidly approaches. Last weekend, they competed in the SUNY Brockport Invitational. Although the meet was non-scoring, the women continued their early season success.Junior Effuah Alleyne opened the event for the women with an eighth-place finish in the 100-meter dash, as she ran 13.89 seconds. Junior Katie O’Brien posted her first of two first-place finishes in the 200-meter dash, which she won by posting a time of 27.07 seconds. In the 400-meter dash, the women had three of the top eight finishers, as junior Michelle Gabriele was third, sophomore Kate Pohlman was fifth and senior Katrina Nowak was eighth. They also had three of the top eight in the 800-meter dash. O’Brien had her second victory of the day, running 2:19.80 to easily defeat her closest competition. With a time of 2:29.41, senior Elizabeth Canfield was fourth, and freshman Charlotte Reardon was seventh with a time of 2:32.72. Canfield improved on her fourth-place finish in the 800 with a second-place result in the 1,500-meter run, as she completed the event in 4:50.60. Senior Erika Wasserstein’s time of 18:49.31 in the 5,000-meter run put her first overall. Also in the 5,000, sophomore Jessica VanBinsbergen ran 19:17.35 to finish fourth. The strong finishes continued in the 100-meter hurdles, when freshman Whitney Silkworth placed second with a time of 16.98 seconds and junior Anna Barbi was sixth with a time of 18.27 seconds. Silkworth added to her second-place finish with a victory in the 400-meter hurdles, as she ran 69.70 seconds to easily defeat her closest competitors.In the high jump, Barbi and freshman Melinda Huang tied for first place, as both marked 1.53 meters. Nowak and Gabriele were third and sixth, respectively, in the long jump, as they marked 4.66 meters and 4.41 meters.Despite getting a late start in practicing outdoors, the throwers seem to be rapidly approaching the top of their games. Junior Grace Kraay continued her domination of the shot put, as she marked 11.02 meters for the victory. Also in the shot put, Maraea Toomalatai marked 10.15 meters to finish fourth. In the discus throw, Kraay added to her shot put win with a fourth-place finish as she marked 31.87 meters. Junior Anne Baker led the way for the women in the hammer throw, finishing third overall with a mark of 36.82 meters. Sophomore Lorena Suarez-Delgado and sophomore Cynthia Gurecki were sixth and seventh in the event, marking 33.54 meters and 33.48 meters respectively. Kraay rounded out another excellent day with a third-place finish in the javelin throw, marking 28.33 meters. Freshman Maraea Toomalatai and Barbi added eighth and ninth-place finishes, marking 22.24 meters and 21.92 meters respectively.The 4×400-meter and 4×800-meter relay teams both posted second-place finishes. The 4×400-meter team ran 4:15.55, while the 4×800-meter team completed the event in 10:41.73. The women look to continue to build on their success this weekend when they host the UR Alumni Invitational. Although it appears that it will be cold, it should be dry enough for the meet to go on, which could go a long way in helping the team to continue to get ready for States. Swidler can be reached at dswidler@campustimes.org.