Volume CXXXIII, Number 14 February 13, 2004

Final leg of season puts women runners back on top
ALLIE YANIKOSKI
STAFF WRITER

Neoma Palmer '07 sits comfortably at first place during her race. Last Friday she went on to win the 5000-meter in 18:10.34 and was only 15 seconds away from qualifying for Nationals. (Courtesy of Eric Sofen)

Last Friday, for the fourth year in a row, the women's indoor track team won the Maine state meet, winning easily with 188.5 points over rivals Colby (167.5), Bates (120), and USM (104).

Easily the high-scorer of the meet, Emily Hackert '06 competed and placed in four events, contributing 24 points to Bowdoin's win. Hackert ran the 200- and 400-meter, the 55-meter hurdles, and participated in the long jump.

In the closest race of the meet, Hackert (61.99) placed second to teammate Gina Campelia '07 (61.98) in the 400-meter by a scant hundredth of a second. Kat Martens '04 finished in fourth place with a time of 62.83. In the highest-scoring event, all three Bowdoin women easily qualified for the New England Division III Championships.

Hackert and Martens teamed up again in the 200-meter, qualifying for Division IIIs in a second event. Hackert's time of 27.31 and Martens's time of 28.03 placed them third and fifth, respectively.

Hackert earned another third place finish in the 55 hurdles (9.22), followed by teammates Allison Cherry '04 (9.40), Erin Prifogle '07 (9.41), and Natasha Camilo '06 (9.61). The Bowdoin women flew over the hurdles to claim third through sixth places in this event, earning Bowdoin a valuable 13 points.

Scoring 18 points between them, Kate Halloran '07 and Ruth Jacobson '06 nabbed first and second place in the 55-meter dash, the only Bowdoin pair to do so at the meet. Both Halloran and Jacobson returned to competition last week after a forced hiatus from racing due to shin splints, only to crush their opponents. Halloran (7.53) and Jacobson (7.82 ) both met the Division III qualifying standard.

Halloran was one of three first year state champions last week. Livy Lewis and Neoma Palmer both won their races comfortably, qualifying themselves for Division IIIs, ECACs, and Open New Englands.

The fastest seed in the 1000-meter, Lewis took the race out quickly and settled into the lead. With each lap, Lewis widened the gap between the second-place Colby runner, finishing with a time of 3:04.87.

In her first 5000-meter race on the track, Palmer seized the lead from the beginning, lapping all of her competitors to win in 18:10.34, a mere 15 seconds away from provisionally qualifying for Nationals. Teammate Kristen Brownell '07 finished in third place, breaking her personal record with her time of 19:09.61, and qualifying for Division IIIs.

The final individual champion of the day, Katie "Cha-cha" Walker ran a strategic race to win the 600-meter in the final lap. Walker moved into the lead with 150 meters remaining and continued to pull away in the final turn. Walker's time of 1:40.81 qualified her for Division IIIs and ECACs.

Ellen Beth '05 also qualified for both Division IIIs and ECACs in the 3000-meter run, where she placed second to Bates's Julie Dutton. Beth finished only six seconds behind Dutton, her time of 10:29.97 nearly identical to her time in the event the previous week. Gessie LePage '07 also ran the 3000-meter, finishing in sixth place with a time of 11:27.00.

Senior co-captains Kala "Conga" Hardacker and Lynne "Cha-cha" Davies also faced Dutton in the 1500-meter. Both women's races came down to the kick, and Hardacker and Davies finished ahead of their opponents.

Hardacker claimed second place, her time of 4:47.36 just half a second ahead of her competitor. Davies sprinted into fourth in the last lap finishing in 5:05.19. Both Hardacker and Davies qualified for Division IIIs.

Senior co-captain Jane "Bradshaw" Cullina also earned a second place finish, facing Colby's Jess Minty in the 800-meter. Cullina fought Minty to the final straightaway, where she finished a scant 0.15 behind Minty, running it in 2:23.70, and qualifying for Division IIIs.

Louise Duffus '07 claimed third place in the shot put with a throw of 41'00.25." Duffus qualified for Division IIIs, ECACs, and Open New Englands, and is less than two feet away from qualifying provisionally for nationals. Laura Perovich '05 earned fourth place in the shot put, with a throw of 34'06.75."

Perovich also finished fourth in the weight throw, for the second week in a row hitting the NCAA provisional mark, along with qualifying for Division IIIs, ECACs, and Open New Englands.

Duffus nabbed fifth place in the event, her throw of 42'07.50" qualifying her for Division IIIs.

Perovich again competed in a recently-added third event, the pole vault. She cleared 8'00" to finish in her third fourth place of the day. Jonelle Walsh '05 (7'06") and Becca Perry '07 (7'00") claimed fifth and sixth places, respectively.

After the 55 hurdles, Hackert (15'05") and Cherry (15'00.50") combined to earn six points for Bowdoin in the long jump with fourth and fifth place finishes. Cherry added a fourth place finish in the triple jump, edging a Colby competitor with her leap of 33'06," breaking her personal record and qualifying for Division IIIs.

In the high jump, Prifogle finished in fifth place, clearing 4'11." Prifogle then bravely went on to lead off in the 4x400-meter relay, combining with Alix Roy '07, Lewis, and Walker to run 4:22.27 for a third place finish.

The first relay of the day, the 4x200-meter, set the meet off to a promising start with its surprise second place finish in 1:56.72 in what Coach Slovenski called a "scrappy race." Camilo led off, followed by Katherine Lohotsky '06, LePage, and Allie Yanikoski '06.

Closing the meet with a final victory, the 4x800-meter team of Palmer, Hardacker, Yanikoski, and Cullina combined forces to win easily in 10:03.41.

The Bowdoin women credit their victory in part to their new slogan: "No Pants, No Limits." Tomorrow the women face the Coast Guard and Bates at Farley Field House at 12:00 p.m. before beginning the championship season.

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