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Volume CXXXIII, Number 19 |
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Time in the sun improves performances
GRACE CHO
STAFF WRITER
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| Bowdoin track competes at the beautiful Santa Barbara City College. (Courtesy of Greydon Foil '05) |
Sunshine, warm weather, and large tail winds helped the Bowdoin Women's Outdoor Track and Field team start the 2002 season off on the right track.
The Polar Bears raced in the Easter Relays held at Santa Barbara City College in Santa Barbara, California, competing well against several California schools. Participants from Claremont, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, Westmont, Vanguard University, and Division I team UCSB were just a few of the teams the team from Maine faced.
Many Bowdoin women achieved personal records and won medals at the first outdoor meet of the season. Top performances included Julia Febiger's '03 win in the 400m hurdles. Running a time of 1:05.21, Febiger beat Division I athletes and has already qualified for some of the post-season races.
Another performance to call to attention is Cait Fowkes' '03 twelve-foot personal record in the hammer throw. Senior captain Casey Kelley said of Cait's throwing, "The twelve foot PR was an unprecedented start to her outdoor season. We can't wait to see Cait rip up the track in heptathlon this year." Fowkes, with her steady improvements from her indoor to outdoor season, looks to be a large point contributor to the team this year.
In addition to Febiger and Fowkes, the 4x400m relay, the 4x800m relay and the distance medley relay all posted top 4 finishes. Casey Kelley's second place in the triple jump and the 2-3 finish in the mile by Libby Barney '03 and Kala Hardacker '04 also made large contributions. Also, newcomers to watch this season are Katie Landry '05 and Marybeth Sexton '05 who will be running the 3000m steeplechase for the team. This is the first time this event will be held as a scoring event for women in the meets and not as an exhibition event.
The women look to be one of the top four teams in NESCAC this season and hope to have many individuals qualify for championship meets like New England Division III's, ECAC's and for outdoor nationals, which will be held in St. Paul Minnesota. The next outdoor meet of the season will be at home against Gordon on April 6.