by Soo Kim
Sports Editor

The women’s track team took full advantage of the ideal running weather this weekend, coming up with a strong 3rd place finish at the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tournament held here at Wes. Losing out the top two seats to Williams and Middlebury, Wes placed ahead of eight other teams competing at the tournament.

The women’s third place finish this year was a huge jump from a disappointing eigth a year ago. Not only an achievement in itself, this weekend marks the first time in almost 11 years that
Wes women have placed as high as fourth, and they have not sat in third place since 1985. 

"It was so exciting being part of such a good team, and I’m really proud of everyone on the team," Beth Newell said. "We did extremely well, and it was a great race."

Because Williams and Middlebury are both nationally ranked teams, Wes women knew they would be fighting Tufts and Colby for the coveted third spot.

"Going into the race, we were hoping to get third and we knew if everyone performed as best as [they] could, we could get third."

"Everyone just really did what they were supposed to and beat Colby [and Tufts]," Caitlin Snow ’03 said. "It was really an accomplishment to surpass those two teams."

Adding to their achievements, Wes women also set three team records, two of which were broken by relay teams. The team of Esther Schlegel ’04, tri-captain Austin Horne ’03, tri-captain
Meredith Barrett ’03 and Jenna Flateman ’04 came in 1st in the 4x100m relay with a time of 0:48.79. Not only does this time break the previous record, but also provisionally qualifies the
team for the NCAA Division III Championships. 

"[Winning the 4x1] was definitely exciting, and we’re really excited about nationals," Schlegel said. "I know we can run faster so that makes it even more exciting."

Schlegel explained that the relay team had hoped to break 0:49 at this meet and come in first in this event. They were all the more excited to have run fast enough to qualify for NCAA
championships as well. 

"You never know what to expect but you have goals in mind, and we were really happy [ours] worked out," Schlegel said.

Schlegel also scored a personal best in both of her hurdles events, the 100m and the 400m. She came in 3rd in the 100m hurdles with a time of 0:15.66 and 8th in the 400m hurdles in 1:08.65.

"I was really happy with [my performance in the] 100m hurdles," Schlegel said. "I feel like I’m improving every meet and I’m hoping to improve over the next couple of meets."

Schlegel is about three-tenths of a second from the school record in the 100m hurdles event, and hopes to break it during the remainder of the outdoor season. 

Barrett, who also ran both hurdles events, came in 4th in the 100m with a time of 0:15.88 and 2nd in the 400m in 1:05.87.

The 4x400m relay team of Brittany Allen ’04, Barrett, Beth Newell, and Horne also broke their team record, with a time of 4:01.86 to place 3rd in this event. 

"It was really exciting, being a freshman and breaking a record and being part of a 4x4 team with such great people," Newell said. "We hadn’t put the team together all season and we were
hoping to break 4:05, but we didn’t expect to get such a low time or break [the record] by so much."

Newell also competed in the Open 400, placing 8th with a time of 1:03.10, behind teammate Horne who finished 2nd with 0:58.90. 

"I was a little disappointed with my time [because] I didn’t have my best time of the year," Newell said. "But I was happy to come back with the 4x4 at the end of the meet."

Snow, who had been somewhat disappointed by her hammer throw at the Elmer Swanson Invitational meet two weeks ago, came back at the NESCAC tournament to break the team record
in the event with a throw of 143-4. 

"It wasn’t really much of an improvement, but I was happy because the last two weeks I haven’t been throwing as well and this meant that I was back where I should be," Snow said. 

Although Snow wasn’t too pleased with her performance in the discus events, she was satisfied with contributing to the team. 

"It wasn’t really about individual achievement, [but more about] points you can score for the team," Snow said. 

This past weekend was full of pride and energy for the women’s outdoor track team. Many felt that the team had really come together to reach this achievement collectively. 

"I think that [the tri-captains] definitely have stepped it up and everyone pulled together a lot this season," Schlegel said. 

Newell agreed that the tri-captains were very supportive and encouraging, playing a significant part in keeping the team cohesive. 

"There was an incredible feeling of excitement around the track," Snow said. "Lots of fans came down and supported us."

"I’m so proud of everyone and so excited for us," Schlegel said. "Everyone seems to be getting better and better every meet and I’m looking forward to seeing how far we can go."

Women’s track has only three more meets left in the outdoor season. The team will compete in the New England Division III meet to be held at Middlebury next weekend, and the New
Englands at Williams the weekend after. The Women wrap up their season with the ECAC Division III meet to be held May 17-18 at Springfield. 

"We’re focusing on staying healthy and having our goals set in our minds and working hard to achieve them," Schlegel said. "[We want to] keep the streak going."