Track & Field Gears Up for Conference Showdown
The women’s and men’s track and field teams traveled to MIT this past Saturday, April 23, to compete at the Sean Collier Invitational. A strong field included athletes from all three NCAA divisions. There was no team scoring at the meet, but the Mammoths’ individual performances were a highlight.
Both the women’s and men’s track and field teams traveled to MIT this past Saturday, April 23, to compete at the Sean Collier Invitational, which included athletes from all three NCAA divisions. While there was no team scoring for this event, some notable individual performances from the Mammoths stood out.
For the women, Payton Sorensen ’25 pole vaulted her way to qualification for the New England Division III Championship and a fourth place finish with a vault of 3.10 meters that tied her personal best. Sophomore Bridget Cassata ’24 and first-year Lindsay Ward ’25 both topped their previous performances in the 100-meter hurdles. Ward not only finished third with her personal best, but she was also the top Division III finisher in the event with a 15.23. Cassata was close behind, finishing fifth in 16.15, a collegiate best. Trintje Nydam ’24 also ran a personal best in the 400-meter hurdles. She finished third in her field with a time of 1:05.90
The men also had some impressive performances this past weekend as they swept the 400 meter hurdles. Ellis Phillips-Gallucci ’23 took first place with a season-best time, Alton Machen ’24 finished second, and Max Spelke ’23 crossed the line in third. Machen also earned fifth place and a personal best in the 110-meter hurdles in just 15.57 seconds. Camden Heafitz ’25 also qualified for the New England Division III Championships and earned second place in the high jump, only placing behind a Division I athlete from Harvard.
The long-awaited NESCAC Championships, the first in two years, are coming up this Saturday, April 30, at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. The men’s and women’s teams are looking forward to finally being able to showcase the hard work that they’ve been putting in all year. Sophomore distance runner Theo Dassin ’24 said, “The whole team is amped for championships [this] season. There is no NESCAC [Championship] during the indoor season, so we’ve had this one circled on our calendars for a while.”
For every event, each school will bring their top three qualifiers to Clinton. A fourth athlete from a given school can qualify for each event without being in the top three on their team if their mark falls within the top 16 finishers in the NESCAC conference for that event. Each school can also bring three wild cards who meet qualifying standards and fall outside the top four but have placed in the top 16 in their events.
The meet is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.
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