Women's track and field rewrites record books in loss to Princeton

While most students took the weekend off for Spring Fling, the women’s track team geared up to face rival Princeton.

Although the Quakers fell short in the dual meet against Princeton, 85-77, many members of the team rewrote the school’s record book Saturday at Franklin Field.

“Princeton is really good,” sophomore hurdler Gabrielle Piper said. “It would have been great to win the meet against them, but the fact that we were so close is a testament to how strong our team has become.”

Senior Kristen Judge tied the 18-year-old high jump record when she cleared 1.75 meters (5 feet, 8.75 inches). She improved on her performance in the Indoor Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships and could potentially earn a berth at the NCAA Championships with the jump.

Junior Jillian Hart launched herself into second place in the school record book when she cleared 3.85 meters (12 feet, 7.5 inches) in the pole vault, winning the event on her first attempt.

Another second-best finish came from the 4×100-meter relay team comprised of Leah Brown, Emily Townsend, Piper and Heather Bong, which narrowly won with a time of 46.29 — just .23 faster than the Tigers’ A team.

Corinne Rich and Morgan Wheeler put their names at fourth in the record books as they both won the discus throw and javelin toss, respectively.

Piper won the 100-meter hurdles, Renee McDougall won the 400-meter dash, Paige Madison won the 400-meter hurdles and Charlotte Pope won the hammer throw.

Those victories, however, were not enough for the overall win, but the results were promising and indicate that the team is moving in the right direction for the upcoming Penn Relays and Ancient Eight Heptagonal Championships.

“I think things are starting to come together,” Townsend said. “This meet was not only about the times, but everyone competing to get as many points as possible and I think we did a great job with that.”

Next weekend, the women head to Princeton to compete in the Larry Ellis Invitational. — Ike Onyeador

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