Last Saturday, a portion of the women's track team traveled to the University of Rhode Island and finished second in a field of four teams.
The women approached the meet looking to work on individual performances rather than to overpower their smaller opponents. The team's top three distance runners had the weekend off, as did the women who compete in the field events. The runners who did attend the meet were entered in events different that the ones they normally compete in.
Picking up the points that Kristin Manwaring '96, Maribel Sanchez '96 and Jenna Rogers '98 normally account for, some of the team's younger runners stepped into the spotlight.
Lorrin Higgins '98 won the 3,000 meter run in 10:40. Stephanie Nearpass '99 followed her across the finish line at 10:45 for second place.
Beth Crenshaw '99 won the mile run with a time of 5:10. Sophomore Deirdre Milligan came in third. Both are accustomed to running longer distances.
Kristin Pierce '96 ran the 1,000 meter run in just a bit over three minutes, a personal record, and was very close to an ECAC qualifying time. Helena Kimball '99 ran a 3:04 in the same event.
"Helena is coming along in time for the big upcoming meets," Manwaring said.
Other runners who turned in solid performances were Pilar Rodriquez '97, Beth Knowlton '99, Rebecca Liston '99, Tully Pruden '99, Helene Sisti '96 and Katie Johnson '99. Rodriquez, a jumper, rarely trains in the sprints but fared well in both her leg of the four by 400 meter relay and in the 200 meter dash.
"It was a low-key meet," Sanchez said. "A lot of the distance runners were in shorter events to work on speed."
Next weekend some of the team will travel to Boston University to compete in the Valentine's Invitational. The Big Green will look to post more NCAA qualifying times in the distance events. The rest of the women will gear up to compete at home as they compete against Maine and Brandeis at 12:00 p.m.
