Women’s Track and Field Starts Indoor Season with Excellent Performances

The women’s track and field team returned early to campus for interterm, holding daily practice and competing in several meets while much of the student body remained at home on winter break.

The Mammoths first traveled to Wesleyan on Jan. 12 to compete in the annual Little Three Championships, scoring 100 points and placing third behind Williams and Wesleyan.

Headlining the event for Amherst were their three first-place finishes: Ella Rossa ’21 in the 60m hurdles (9.16), Grace Haase ’21 in the 800m (2:30.17), and the 4x800m relay team of Jenny Mazzella ’20, Katie Lingen ’22, Rachel Ruderman ’21 and Maya Bhandari ’20.

The Mammoths added two second-place and three third-place marks. Christina Scartelli ’19 ran the one mile with a time of 5:02.39 and placed second. Lauren Lamb ’21 finished second behind Rossa in the 60m hurdles. Anna Madden ’22, Mazzella and Ruderman all notched third-place finishes in their respective events.

The following weekend, a smaller group of athletes competed at the Smith Invitational, hosted by Smith College, and amassed 36.5 points en route to a ninth-place finish in a 15-team field. Lela Walter ’19 claimed the top finish of the day, placing second in the one mile. Lingen and Rubii Tamen ’19 added third-place finishes in the 400 meters and 200 meters, respectively.

On Jan. 26, the Mammoths placed an impressive third in an 18-team field at the Branwen Smith-King Invitational, hosted by Tufts. Rossa secured another victory in the 60m hurdles. Sam Tichelaar ’22, Sophia Friedman ’21, Juanita Jaramillo ’22 and Madden snagged first place in the 4x400m relay.

Fresh off her impressive performance at Smith, Tamen placed second in the 200m. Tichelaar and Madden finished second and third in the 400m, respectively. This past Saturday, Amherst returned to Tufts for the Cupid Challenge. Rossa earned yet another win in the 60m hurdles and moved into a tie for the eighth fastest DIII U.S. mark this season.

Scartelli ran a blistering 9:50.47 3000-meter race, shattering the meet record and moving into fourth among DIII women across the country in the event. Madden’s third-place finish in the 400m moved her onto the national DIII women’s 400m leaderboard at 27th. The 4x400m relay team of Tichelaar, Friedman, Jaramillo and Madden improved on their mark from the last meet to earn another win, vaulting them to 29th on the national leaderboard.

“The team came back from winter break hungry and ready to compete,” Assistant Coach Danny Feldman said. “We have posted stellar individual performances, already having more qualifiers for the DIII New England Championship than at any point last year. Even more impressive, though, is our overall team success. We really believe we can be top ten in all of New England.”

The Mammoths return to action this coming weekend, when some harriers head to MIT for the Gordon Kelley Invitational while others travel to Boston University for the David Hemery Valentine Invitational.