NEW LONDON, Conn. – Wellesley College track & field opened the outdoor season on Saturday afternoon at the 2016 Coast Guard Academy Spring Invite. The Blue took third place out of 12 teams, finishing just two points behind Westfield State's 110 with 108. New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) foe WPI won the women's event with 139 points.
In all, Wellesley totaled five first place finishes and broke school records in the 100m Dash and the shot put. The Blue also established school records in three events, competing for the first time in program history in the javelin, discus and hammer.
Junior Isabella Narvaez (Cali, Colombia) took first place in the 100m Dash, finishing in 12.55 seconds to break her own school record of 12.73 seconds, set at last year's Conn. College Silfen Invitational. Narvaez's time in the event qualifies her to compete in both the New England Division III (NE DIII) and ECAC Division III Outdoor Championships in May. The junior also competed in the 200m Dash, taking second place with a time of 26.59 seconds.
First year Helen Anderson (Madison, N.J.) set a new school record in the shot put, when she heaved the shot a distance of 10.26m. Her mark eclipsed the previous school record of 9.01m, set by teammate Susannah Perkins (Ottsville, Pa.) at last year's NEWMAC Championships. Perkins also bettered her previous record with a mark of 9.09m to finish 14th on Saturday.
Returning to competition for the first time since her All-American performance in the Long Jump at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & field Championships, sophomore Abena Asare (Berlin, N.J.) won the Long Jump with a leap of 4.95m.
In the 1500m Run, juniors Mary Keenan (Boerne, Texas) and Sonja Cwik (La Cañada, Calif.) finished in first and third place with times of 4:47.25 and 4:48.59, respectively. Both Wellesley runners qualified for the NE DIII Championships, while Keenan's time also qualified her for the ECAC Division III Championships.
Making her season debut on the track, first year Cathy Chen (Parsippany, N.J.) was first in the 400m Hurdles with a time of 1:08.64 and seventh in the 100m Hurdles in 17.28. Chen, who is also a member of the Blue swimming & diving team, led a 1-2 Wellesley sweep in the 400m Hurdles, registering an NE DIII qualifying time to take first, while senior Caitlin Bailey (Old forge, N.Y.) was second in 1:10.73.
Junior Edie Sharon (Winchester, Mass.) added the fourth first place time for the Blue on the track, running to a time of 11:50.67 in the 3000m Steeplechase. Sharon's first place time registered a qualifying mark for the NE DIII Championships.
Wellesley established school records in the javelin, discus, and hammer, as sophomore Isabella King (Cincinnati, Ohio), sophomore Caroline Hsu (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Anderson set marks in each event, respectively. King tossed the javelin 29.10m to earn a top-five finish in the event, while Hsu threw the discus 24.41m and Anderson tossed the Hammer 32.38m.
Other top-five times for the Blue included: senior Sara Vannah's (Amherst, Mass.) fourth place finish in the 5000m run (19:10.16), a third place finish (52.04) for the Blue's 4x100m Relay team and a runner-up finish for the 4x400m Relay squad.
Wellesley track & field will continue the outdoor season next Saturday, April 9, at the Smith College Invitational.
