BRUNSWICK, Maine -- Sophomore Ari Marks (Eagle Point, Ore.) took first place in the Mile to lead Wellesley College track & field on Saturday at the Bowdoin College Invitational.
The non-scoring meet saw the Blue competing against the host Polar Bears, Bates, Bridgewater State, Colby, Endicott, Gordon, Husson, Maine Farmington, Maine Maritime, Salve-Regina, Wheaton.
Marks recorded a big PR, finishing with a Division III New England Championship (DIII NE) qualifying time of 5:13.10. Marks had also previously qualified for DIII New England's in the 3000m.
Sophomore Maya Bradbury (Freeport, Maine) finished with the fastest time among the eight Wellesley competitors in the 3000m, earning runner-up honors in 10:33.52. The Blue had eight of the 24 competitors in the field in the 3000m, with four finishing in the top-ten. Senior Keiko Hilmo (Saint Paul, Minn.) was fourth (10:53.69), junior Samara Shaz (New York, N.Y.) was fifth (10:55.76), and sophomore Amy Tao (Hong Kong, China) added an eighth place finish (11:07.90).
Senior Elizabeth Wegman (East Sandwich, Mass.) and first year Madeline Morocco (Mansfield, Mass.) each recorded third place finishes during the afternoon. Wegman finished third with a new PR of 3:11.08 in the 1000m, just tenths of a second under her previous best. Morocco was third in the Long Jump, setting a new PR of 4.91m on her fourth attempt. Morocco also finished tenth in the 60m in 8.63 seconds.
Morocco's 60m time was tops for the Blue in the event, with classmate Arianna Sablad (Colorado Springs, Colo.) finishing one spot behind in 11th (8.71). However, Sablad added a top-ten time in the 200m, running to a time of 28.98 to take eight overall. Junior Rachel Berets (Belmont, Mass.) joined Sablad in the 200m, finishing 16th in 31.07. Berets was also 13th in the 60m Hurdles (10.28), two spots behind first year Dallis Kehoe (Norwell, Mass.), who finished 11th in the 60m Hurdles (10.18) and added a fourth place finish in the 400m (1:02.87).
Senior Josephine Kim (Orange County, Calif.) cleared 1.46m on her third attempt in the High Jump to match her season and career best and take fifth place in the event. Kim was also 8th in the Triple Jump with a mark of 9.31m, finishing two spots ahead of teammate Ariel Traver (Palo Alto, Calif.) who took tenth with a leap of 8.84m. Traver was also tenth in the long jump with a leap of 4.12m.
Senior Crystalina Guo (Montgomery, N.J.) finished with the top spot for the Blue in both the Shot Put and the Weight Throw. Guo was 5th in the shot with a toss on 10.52m and added a sixth place finish in the weight throw with a mark of 12.91m on her third attempt. First year Shania Baldwin (Houston, Texas) added an eighth place (12.41m) finish in the weight throw and was 14th in the shot (9.23m), while first year Emily Doyle (Mobile, Ala.) was 11th in the weight throw (10.84m) and junior Abigail Parakoyi (Houston, Texas) was 13th in the weight throw (9.63m) and 17th in the shot (8.80m).
Wellesley returns to action next Saturday, February 29, at the Division III New England Indoor Championships at Middlebury College. The Blue currently have four athletes qualified for the event, including: Wegman in the 1000m and the Mile, Marks and Bradbury in the 3000m and senior Eva Paradiso (Burlington, Vt.) in the Mile.
