Volume CXXXIII, Number 17 February 22, 2002 f

Women's track attacks New England DIIIs
GRACE CHO
STAFF WRITER

Bang! As the gun goes off, the Bowdoin Women's Track and Field team takes charge at the New England Division III Championships held at the University of Southern Maine this past weekend. The Polar Bears faced their best competition of the season at the championships running, jumping, or throwing head to head against 26 colleges in the New England area.
A strong showing in the relays and the 600m run greatly contributed to the 35 points the Bowdoin women scored which placed the team seventh overall at the meet. Wheaton College, a Division III track and field powerhouse, won the meet with 188.50 points.

Wheaton may have won the meet, but the team came up short in the distance medley relay. The Bowdoin relay squad members of Libby Barney '03, Jane Cullina '04, Kala Hardacker '04, and Audra Caler '05 went into New England's with a slow seed time, but surprised the competition by winning the event with a time of 12:09.15 and setting a school record.
Their time went far below the indoor nationals provisional qualifying time of 12:39. Eight other relay teams qualified provisionally at the meet, but Bowdoin's relay team came away holding one of the fastest times in the nation this season for the event.

Team member Kala Hardacker '04 tells her thoughts as she watched first year Audra Caler run the anchor leg and out kick second and third place Wheaton and Brandeis: "We all huddled around the finish line and screamed when we heard our official time," said Hardacker. "Finishing as New England Champions felt too incredible to describe."

Head Coach Peter Slovenski was happy with the results of the DMR, but he showed a great enthusiasm with the performance by senior Shania Zamitis who placed third overall in the 600m run.

"It was great to see Shaina run so well and earn All New England honors in her last 600m," Slovenski says of Zamitis. "She is a great competitor in pressure situations, and her effort in the 600m was very important to the team." Zamitis, with a strong second lap, in the three-lap race, moved into a position to earn points and gain honors.

In addition to the distance medley relay and the 600m run, Bowdoin women placed respectively in the 1000m, 1500m, triple jump, high jump, 4x400m relay, and 4x800m relay.

Senior Captain Casey Kelley was proud to see improvements from last year's 11th place finish and many team members set personal records or seasons best. She says about her teammates, "They've been working so hard since November, these women deserve every accolade they receive."
Coming up for the women this week are the Open New England Championships. The team members competing hope to have strong showings and maybe turn a few heads against the Division I schools.