Women’s track and field competes at the New England Championships on home turf

Gabby Odoom, Sports Information

The women’s track team competed at the Div. III New England Championships on Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7. In this championship meet, the Ephs hosted teams from schools across the Div. III New England athletic division, including Amherst, MIT, Middlebury, and Tufts. The weekend was a great success for the women’s team, with many Ephs achieving personal bests, earning points in their events, and qualifying for the Div. III NCAA Championship at Spire Institute on May 26.

Sprinters had great performances in the 100m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 4x100m relay, and 4x400m relay. Kiara Tan ’23 competed in the Friday 100m dash prelims, running 12.33 and qualifying for the Saturday finals. On Saturday, she ran a personal best and NCAA Championship qualifying time of 12.13 in the 100m finals, placing second overall in the event. In the 400m, Claudia Iannelli ’23 ran a seasonal best time of 59.77, placing eighth. Camryn Taylor ’24 ran 65.31 in the 400m hurdles for fifth place.

Both relays also had strong performances. The 4x100m relay team of Tan, Gabby Odoom ’25, Iannelli, and Taylor clocked in at 48.48 for second place overall. The 4x400m relay team of Daisy Valle ’25, Malia Klein ’25, Liza Jacoby ’22, and Lilly Wells ’23 placed 10th with a time of 4:09.90.

The distance crew also performed well this weekend. Captain Abby Scott ’22 ran a personal best of 2:13.52 in the 800m, becoming the Div. III New England Outdoor Champion. In the same event, Jacoby placed ninth with a time of 2:17.05, and Wells placed 12th with a personal best time of 2:18.72. In the 1500m, Ella Ball ’25 placed seventh with a time of 4:43.26 for a new personal best. Ball was closely followed by Blakeley Buckingham ’25 who placed eighth in 4:43.29. Sophie Rosencrans ’25 matched her personal best of 4:46.49, placing 10th in this event. In the 10k, Avivah Malin ’22 placed 24th in 40:53.43. Captain Sarah Jane O’Connor ’22 placed third in the 5k with a time of 17:36.69. Claudia Zhang ’24 also competed in the 5k, crossing the line in a personal best of 17:37.60, placing fifth.

Many athletes also achieved personal bests in the jumps. Morgan Nasir ’25 performed exceptionally in the long jump, becoming the Div. III New England Outdoor Champion. Her jump of 5.88m is a new personal best and the second all-time at the College. Nasir’s performance qualified her for the NCAA Championship in this event. Kristen Chou ’23 also had an amazing performance, placing fourth in the long jump with a personal record of 5.58m. Tan placed seventh in the event with a jump of 5.47m. In the triple jump, senior captain Kelsie Hao ’22 placed ninth with a mark of 11.03m, a new personal best. Hao also competed in the pole vault where she placed second with a jump of 3.73m. She was followed by fellow captain Cristina Young ’22 who placed sixth, clearing 3.38m. In seventh place was Poppy Miller ’25, who also cleared 3.38m. Captain Heidi Leeds ’22 placed 10th and cleared 3.23m. Jae Yu ’25 also competed in the pole vault and cleared 3.08m, placing 19th.

Next weekend, the team will compete in the All New England Championship meet at Bryant University.