By Dan Canastra
The women’s track team keeps on winning.
They finished first in their third consecutive meet this past weekend. The Huskies ran past second place University of Connecticut by 24 points to win the New England Championship for the first time since 1999.
Each race was extremely important, with the large field of 27 teams at Smith College. The Huskies started the meet with second and third place finishes from co-captain Ebony Jack and Jordine Kimbrel in the 55-meter race. Kimbrel also finished first in the 200-meter race with a time of 24.7 seconds.
The Huskies captured four other top spots this past weekend. Ahndraea Allen won the 400-meter race, Janel Kozlowski finished first in the high jump. Zara Northover threw farther than anyone in the shot put, and co-captain Joane Merlain won the 800-meter race.
Merlain was very pleased with her performance during the event.
“[Winning the 800-meter race] was a real good feeling, this is my last year and I wanted to go out on a good note and I knew my team was relying on me,” she said.
The Huskies earned second, third and fourth place finishes in the pole vault. Courtney MacLaren led the way clearing a personal best of 12’1.5. Freshman DaviAnn Brown finished second in the 500-meter race with a time of 1:16.72. Wittly Jourdan took third in the pentathlon and fifth in the 55-meter hurdles.
The win was a total team effort, with a first place finish just as important as a fifth place finish. Coach Sherman Hart was very pleased with the overall team performance.
“They did an outstanding job, and did everything they possibly could to win the championship,” he said.
The team’s co-captains were also very pleased in how well the team performed last weekend.
“The team’s effort was exceptional,” Jack said. “They did what they had to do, and everyone was up for the challenge.”
“Everyone performed real well and put in their best effort. We placed in almost every event we competed in,” added Merlain.
The Huskies host the ECAC Championship this weekend. Coach Hart is confident the team will have a good showing this weekend.
“We’re ready, we’re well prepared coming off the win from this last weekend. We are all real pumped up,” he surmised.
