Track teams run well in familiar surroundings

Women’s Track

Sophomore Shauneen Garrahan and senior co-captain Carter Hamill dominated Saturday’s competition at Smith. Garrahan broke the finish line first in both the 1000- and 1500-meter runs, setting a new College record in the 1500. Hamill took home another pair of first-place finishes, narrowly beating Caroline Creti from archrival Williams College in the 3000-meter run before speeding to another victorious ending in the 5000-meter run, which she finished in 17:28.02. In the latter race, Hamill dusted her competition by 14 seconds.

The depth of the women’s roster provided a number of terrific performances, leading the women to a third-place finish out of 24 teams. The team’s standing matches last year’s results in the same meet, an impressive feat given the relatively small size of the Jeff roster.

The team had several outstanding performances in the 3000 in particular. Following Hamill’s victory was first-year Heather Wilson in sixth, a 10th-place finish from first-year Laura Mortimer and a 12th-place run by senior Alison Rodriguez.

Junior Ginger Polich took home second in the 800-meter run, qualifying provisionally for the NCAA Championships and setting a personal record. Sophomore Maria Millard finished seventh in the pentathlon, setting a new College-record point total in the process. Senior co-captain Lee-Jay Henry beat her school record in the 55-meter hurdles in preliminary competition but followed this performance with a disappointing and costly fall in the final heat.

Two relay teams had impressive runs. Garrahan, Hamill, Polich and first-year Vanessa Sochat joined forces to claim second place in the 4×800-meter relay. Matching their teammates, Henry, junior Julia Rucker, junior Lyndsey Scott and sophomore Hannah Campbell followed Tufts to a second-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay. The foursome also joined together to run the fifth-best 4×200-meter relay.

Men’s Track

Seniors Jack Morgan and Matt Katz, sophomore Sam Hayman and first-year Rom Cabeza ran together to garner an impressive third-place finish in the distance medley relay. Their time of 10:28.71 rated the group’s best pace so far this season.

Two relay teams featuring no seniors also placed for the Lord Jeffs this weekend. The all-sophomore team of Rich Wilson, Rob Boley, Cooper Knowlton and John Babbott placed 10th in the 4×800-meter while sophomore Geoff Stricsek, first-year Ben Read, junior Tim Porter and sophomore Jon Ettinger placed 13th in the 4×400-meter relay.

Morgan, a co-captain and an All-American, took fourth in the 800-meter run, finishing within a second of the first-place pace. Katz finished ninth in the 1500-meter run followed closely by fellow senior Mike Page who took 12th. First-year Tomas Morrissey finished ninth in the 3000-meter run, while Babbott went solo to take 11th in the 800-meter run, and Hayman set a personal record for his time in the 600-meter run, finishing 14th overall.

Next weekend members of both Jeff squads will compete at the Open New England Championships hosted by Boston University.