By Cynthia Retamozo

The women’s track ‘ field team traveled to Gainesville, Fla. Friday and Saturday to compete in the 63rd annual Pepsi Florida Relays where they faced nationally-ranked colleges and professional Nike and Team USA athletes.

Despite the potentially intimidating competition, the Huskies remained consistent with their times.

“We were going against better competition,” said head coach Sherman Hart. “But we ran fairly well and were where we should be.”

Junior Tramaine Shaw set a new personal best in the 400-meter hurdle event, finishing eighth with a time of 1:01.67 seconds. Sophomore Olivia Kalinowska placed seventh in the pole vault, reaching a height of 3.50 meters.

“It was great to be at such a competitive meet,” she said. “It’s always good to face higher competition because you help yourself.”

The “A” Team for the 4×800-meter relay placed third with a time of 9:08.60. The team consisted of seniors Natalee Pennicooke and Erin Ballard and sophomores Amber Gibney and Brittany Moriarty.

In the discus throw, senior Zara Northover placed sixth after fouling five times, throwing 39.58 meters. Northover went on to place fourth in the shot put, where she threw a total distance of 15.69 meters.

Hart said Northover’s shot put performance was the 13th best in the nation that weekend and third best in the East, surpassed almost solely by professional athletes. Northover said she used the rotational circle technique, as opposed to her usual glide style method, for the throw at Pepsi.

“I’ve been struggling between techniques,” she said. “But it felt great and it’ll open doors for success.”

For the remainder of the season, Northover said she hopes to consistently throw more than 15 meters in the shot put.

Next week the Huskies will compete at home in Dedham in the Bernard Solomon Invitational. Hart anticipates improvement in preparation for the CAA Championship the week after.

“I hope for some fine tuning and for the team to make it out healthy,” he said.