After two weeks of intense pre-training that spawned a series of injuries, the women's track team excelled at last week's Greater Boston Track Club Invitational held at Harvard University.
According to team member Hannah Peckler '11, being selected to compete in the invitational section of the meet was an accomplishment in itself. The invitational hosted several prominent club teams and college teams from New England.
"Anyone could be a part of [the open races] and you would be placed in each heat based on your time," she said. "There is only one invitational section. To be placed in the invitational section is an honor to begin with. To win that is pretty incredible."
The crowning performance of the day was junior Elsa Millet's win in the invitational section of the 400-meter dash. She scored an impressive time of 58.49 for the Polar Bears.
Laura Peterson placed second in the long jump with an exemplary jump of 5.30 meters. Peterson also placed third in the triple jump with a score of 11.04 meters.
Meanwhile in the 3000-meter run invitational, two athletes achieved noteworthy performances. Captain Christina Argueta '11 placed fifth with a time of 10:21.23 while Olivia Mackenzie '13 took ninth place.
For Argueta, the meet proved to be a great opportunity for team members to get a head start as the state championship meet approaches.
"I think it was an overall good time. It was our first time at a really big meet this season," said Argueta. "In general, it was a good opportunity to get on a fast track and get a good qualifying time."
Millet agreed with the women's strong performance but warned of the injuries that have plagued the team.
"We're in pretty good standing but we want everyone to be flexible and healthy. We have had a couple of injuries," said Millet. "It's really our state meet that we are building up to. We want to compete with an attitude [reflecting] that next week is the state meet."
Bowdoin will host a home meet this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in Farley Field House. The women's track team will compete against rivals Tufts and Colby—two of the best teams in the conference.
In Millet's opinion, the women's performance was a good omen and consolidated excitement among the team.
"We're definitely looking forward to the state meet after this performance," said Millet.