Volume CXXXIII, Number 13 February 6, 2004

Women cross the finish line just behind Tufts in dual meet
ALLIE YANIKOSKI
STAFF WRITER

Kala Hardacker '04 finishes up the last leg of the mile, which she won in 5:23.88 minutes. Hardacker was followed by Bowdoin's Audra Caler '05, who placed third in 5:39.96 minutes. (Courtesy of Eric Sofen)

Last Saturday, the women's track team lost to rival Tufts (102-74) in their second home meet of the season. However, despite losing the meet, the Bowdoin women fought Tufts to win ten out of 18 events.

Winning the weight throw with 49'0.5," Laura Perovich '05 was the only female at the meet to qualify provisionally for nationals. As of last weekend, Perovich's throw held the 12th best Division III ranking nationwide.

Perovich demonstrated bravery as well as strength in the meet, joining teammates Becca Perry '07 and Jonelle Walsh '05 in the pole vault. Perry won the event in 7'06," followed by Walsh (also 7'06") and Perovich (7'00"), making the pole vault the highest-scoring event of the day for the Bowdoin women.

Emily "Heptathlon" Hackert '06, the team's highest-scoring individual on Saturday, accumulated 12 points for Bowdoin, winning two events and finishing third in her other two.

Hackert finished second in the preliminary heat of the 55-meter hurdles, but edged out Mackenzie Rawcliffe of Tufts to win the finals in 9.21 seconds. Teammates Erin Prifogle '07 and Alison Cherry '04 finished third and fifth, in 9.50 seconds and 9.53 seconds, respectively.

After winning the hurdles, Hackert continued on to the long jump, where she finished third overall, with a leap of 14'10.75." Hackert also finished thrd in the 200-meter in 27.45 seconds, behind two of the fastest 200-meter runners in the NESCAC.

Hackert ended her day with a victory in the 400-meter. She trailed her Tufts opponent Kate Makai until the final turn, then sprinted ahead to a time of 62.32 seconds.

Katie Walker '05 used the same strategy as Hackert, kicking down her opponent in the final straightaway to win the 800-meter and the 4x800-meter relay, which she anchored. Walker knew that she did not want to lead the open 800, and shadowed her Tufts opponent until the last 50 meters, finishing in 2:25.31 minutes, half a second ahead of the second-place runner.

Following relay teammates Allie Yanikoski '06 and senior co-captains Lynne Davies and Jane Cullina, Walker found herself in a similar situation in the 4x800. She battled with the Tufts anchor throughout the race, finally out-kicking her to a relay team victory of 9:59.40 minutes, once again just about a half second ahead of Tufts.

Despite leading the 600-meter, the Tufts women also lost this event, this time to Cullina's perfectly executed kick. After hanging on to Tufts runner Sakia Henry for a blazing first lap, Cullina stayed on Henry's shoulder to pass her in the last 100 meters, winning in an ECAC-qualifying time of 1:41.95.

Livy Lewis '07 and Davies also met ECAC qualifying times in the 1000-meter. After taking the lead around the 600-meter mark, Lewis won the event in 3:06.77 minutes. Davies, in only her second meet since her stress fracture in September, finished in third place with a time of 3:10.13 minutes. Co-captain Kala Hardacker '04 finished two seconds behind Davies in fifth place, after winning the mile an hour earlier.

Hardacker paced herself through the mile in almost perfectly even splits, running just about 40-second laps to win in 5:23.88 minutes, qualifying for New England Division IIIs and beating the second-place finisher from Tufts by 12 seconds.

Louise Duffus '07, the final Bowdoin champion of the day and the undefeated shot put champion this season, also met the Division III qualifying standard with her throw of 37'08." Perovich finished sixth in the event, putting the shot 33'10.75."

Back on the track, the 3000-meter run was one of the women's most competitive races of the day. Bowdoin entered four top distance athletes, and, in another race that came down to the final straightaway, cross country All-American Neoma Palmer '07 and cross country All-New England runner Ellen "Danger" Beth finished second and third, respectively.

Palmer took the lead from the beginning, shadowed by Lauren Caputo from Tufts. In the final turn, Caputo crept up on Palmer and out-kicked her by less than a second, followed closely by Beth. In one of her first track races ever, Palmer's time of 10:25.31 minutes qualified her for Division IIIs, ECACs, and Open New Englands. Beth's time of 10:29.01 minutes, her second-fastest personal time, qualified her for ECACs and Open New Englands.

Kristen Brownell '07 and Gessie LePage '07 also represented Bowdoin in the 3K, finishing sixth and ninth, in 11:10.07, and 11:23.95, respectively. Fellow first-year Prifogle earned fourth place in the high jump, clearing 4'09."

Bowdoin finished second to Tufts in the 4x200- and 4x400-meter relays. In the first track event of the day, Kat Martens '04, Natasha Camilo '06, Katherine Lohotsky '06, and Yanikoski completed the 4x200 in 1:55.93 minutes. Martens also led off the 4x400, followed by Lewis, Chelsea Spector '04, and Alix Roy '07.

Tonight, the women will host the Maine State meet at 6:00 p.m. Among other teams, they will face rivals Colby and Bates, hoping to defend their three-year championship title.

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