BOSTON, Mass. – The Wellesley College track and field team opened the 2012-13 indoor season with a solid day of competition at the UMass Boston Invitational held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center on Saturday.

Four Wellesley student-athletes hit qualifying standards to highlight the event, including senior Ada Smith, sophomore Taylor Bickford and first-years Priyanka Fouda and Courtney Lang. 

Smith led a pack of Wellesley runners in the 5,000-meter race, posting a third place finish in a personal best time of 18:15.86. Her time qualified her for the New England Div. III, New England Intercollegiate, and ECAC Div. III championships. Bickford finished fifth in the same event in a track PR of 18:34.13, while Fouda took seventh in her first track 5K, finishing in 18:56.36. Bickford's time qualified her for the New England Div. III and ECAC Div. III championships, while Fouda qualified for the New England Div. III championship.

Lang hit qualifying standards in the triple jump, setting a new Wellesley record with a 10.42m (34' 2.25") effort. The mark was good for third place, and it qualified her for the New England Div. III championship. Lang also recorded a second place finish in the long jump, recording a leap of 4.90m (16' 1.00"), also a program best.

Wellesley also recorded strong finishers in both the 1,000m and the mile run. In the 1,000, first-year Victoria Lee took second place, recording a 3:13.08 in her first race at that distance. In the mile, junior Jane Lodwick and first-year Alessandra Gavin placed second and third overall, Lodwick recorded a time of 5:31.77, while Gavin recorded a personal best of 5:32.22. First-year Carolyn Chelius also ran the mile, placing ninth overall in 5:50.54, marking her first track race. 

Sophomores Doris Berman and Nicole Chui completed Wellesley's competitors in the 5,000-meter race, both hitting personal bests. Berman placed ninth overall in 19:02.48, while Chui finished 12th in 19:22.90.

First-year Sharon Ng took seventh overall in the 500m, recording a time of 1:24.26 in her first try at the distance. The Blue also had three racers in both the 200m and 60m events. First-year Emma Kissane (29.05), and juniors Sheena Dupuy (29.38) and Zoe Sobel (30.20) competed in the 200, while Kissane (8.76), Dupuy (8.78) and Lang (8.79) ran the 60. All three of Wellesley's entries in the 60m dash finished in the top half of the field, which consisted of 48 runners. 

Rounding out the track events, Wellesley's 4 x 400m relay team of Ng, Kissane, Lodwick and first-year Mia Guild, finished second in their section and eighth overall, recording a time of 4:21.72. 

Wrapping up the jumping events, Sobel took eighth in the triple jump with an distance of 9.00m (29' 6.50"), while in the long jump, Dupuy finished 10th with a 4.58m (15' 0.50") and Sobel took 18th with a 4.07m (29' 6.50").

Wellesley track and field is back in action next Saturday, competing at the Harvard Open Invitational.