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Volume CXXXII, Number 23 |
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Women's track toes the line against rivals
JULIA FEBIGER
STAFF WRITER
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| From left to right, Sarah Bodnar '03, Emily Hackert '06, and Julia Febiger '03 take a well-deserved break during practice. (Hans Law, Bowdoin Orient) |
As most students settled into a permanent buzz for Ivies Weekend, the Bowdoin Women's Track Team headed to Williamstown to seek the ever-more powerful runner's high. There were some incredible individual performances as the Bears jumped, threw, and ran courageously in the rain. The team finished sixth out of the 11 schools in the NESCAC conference championship meet.
One of the best performances of the day came from Sara Bodnar '03. She placed fifth in the 100 and ran the anchor leg on the third place 4x100-meter team. Bodnar sprinted to her fifth place finish in a time of 13.18. In the 400 meter run, Emily Hackert '06 finished sixth with a time of 60.85, while Kat Martens '04 finished eighth in a time of 61.2.
The 800-meter run was possibly the most exciting event of the day. Jane Cullina '03 said of the event, "Many of the Bears had stellar performances this weekend, but I was most impressed by the 800 meter crew-all three of whom lit the track on fire and outperformed their competition to score in three of the top eight places."
Kate Walker '05 led Bowdoin with a fourth place finish in a time of 2:19.10. Kate Brinkerhoff '03 finished seventh and beat her previous personal record (PR) with a time of 2:20.05. Emily Sheffield '06 rounded out the competition, finishing eighth with a time of 2:20.11.
Libby Barney '03 had a strong performance in the 1500 meter. She finished sixth with a time of 4:46. Ellen Beth '05 had an impressive fifth place in the 5000-meter run, crossing the finish line in a new PR of 18:28.37. Marybeth Sexton '05 finished the 5000 in 19:00.
Steve Prefontaine once said that, "A lot of people run a race to see who is the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts." Seniors Anne Barmettler and Acadia Senese both had proved their raw determination and guts in their respective events.
After spraining her ankle in one of her landings, Barmettler continued on in the pole vault to tie her PR of 9'6.25". Senese has been one of the most courageous Bears throughout both the indoor and outdoor seasons. She has continued to triple jump despite a nagging foot injury. At NESCACs, Senese placed sixth with a triple jump of 35'05".
Cait Fowkes '03 deserves to be commended for her outstanding versatility in all of her events on Saturday and throughout the season. Fowkes has consistently had strong performances in the shot put, high jump, and hammer throw. Julia Febiger '03 placed second in the 400-meter hurdles and qualified provisionally for nationals with a time of 64.36.
Coach Peter Slovenski said, "We competed very well all day. I was particularly pleased with the relay teams. We had a school record in the 4x400 and placed top five in all three relay events." The 4x100 (Martens, Hackert, Febiger, Bodnar) team improved its time to 50.23 and finished third overall.
The 4x400 (Martens, Hackert, Walker, Febiger) went just under the previous school record (4:01.7) that the Dark Horse relay team had set last spring. The Bears came in second with a new school record time of 4:01.52.
The 4x800 (Allie Yanikoski '06, Brinkerhoff, Sheffield, Barney) finished the day on an extremely strong note. Due to the slippery conditions, the baton slipped out of their fingers during one exchange. This miscue did not stop the Bears from finishing fifth in the NESCAC with a season's best time of 9:38.
"Best Kick" Brinkerhoff said, "I've never been on a more spirited, psyched up 4x800 relay team. It was the last [women's] event of the meet but we all went out and improved our seed time tremendously. And that's what track is all about-taking those opportunities to run your heart out."
The Bears will return to Williams to run their hearts out at the women's
New England Division III championship meet this Saturday.
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