At the Open New England Championships, several members of the women's track team competed against the top athletes from New England, leading to some fast times and strong performances in the high profile meet.
"This meet was a great experience for several of the athletes who have qualified provisionally for nationals," said team captain Dana Riker '10. "There was a lot of Division I competition to pull people along."
The Polar Bears were led by two strong performances in the sprints.
On Friday night in the 200-meter dash, sophomore Emily Barr completed her race in 26.10 seconds. Her time was fast enough to best the previous school record by .25 seconds.
The next day, in the 400-meter dash, sophomore Elsa Millett completed a single lap in an impressive time of 58.28 seconds. Millett's performance broke her own school record.
In the trials of the 55-meter hurdles, freshman Michelle Kaufman completed her race in a time of 8.56 seconds. However, the strong performance did not qualify her for finals.
In the 1000-meter run, senior Lindsay Hodge ran a personal best time of 3 minutes, 5 seconds on Friday night. The next day brought another strong performance from Hodge, who completed the mile with a time of 5 minutes, 16 seconds.
"Lindsay's race went off over an hour late because the clock broke," said junior Christina Argueta. "She was pacing about the infield in her spikes for that entire time and managed not to lose focus. To be able to run the time she did after waiting for so long is a testament to her mental toughness."
Rounding out the individual performers was Argueta, who ran her second fastest time of the season in the 5000-meter run. She finished the 25-lap race in an impressive 18:30.
In the jumps, Laura Peterson '12 continued her strong season with jumps of 17 feet, 1.25 inches, and 36 feet, 7.75 inches in the long jump and the triple jump, respectively.
Junior Christine Head also vaulted an impressive 11 feet in the pole vault. Her performance was enough to best her own school record.
In the relays, the Bowdoin women had an excellent performance in the 4x800-meter run. Bowdoin's team, consisting of Riker, Hodge, Caroline Tory '12 and Grace Kerr '11 ran a time of 9:29, coming in just shy of the Bowdoin school record.
This weekend, the Polar Bears head to the ECAC Championships, where Riker notes there will be "more opportunities for Bowdoin athletes to post some great times, distances and heights."
After ECACs, those who have qualified provisionally for the NCAA D-III National Championships must wait until early next week to see if they have qualified for Nationals, which take place at Trinity during the second weekend of March.