The women's indoor track team had an impressive performance at the Open New England Indoor Track and Field Championship at Boston University last weekend. The team finished 17th out of the 34 teams that participated, a number that included D-I, D-II and D-III schools. The team made its prescence known, running personal bests and breaking school records as well as NCAA qualifications.
"Our team completed very well last Saturday," said Grace Kerr '11, who ran on the 4x800 team that broke the school record. "Everyone pulled through and performed at the level that was necessary for the meet. We successfully peaked for the right part of the season."
Kerr was a member of the team that held the previous school record, and helped her team finish sixth at the meet.
"The 4x800 was so tough on the track. Molly [Porcher '13] had a fantastic lead-off leg, and then Caroline [Tory '12], Liza [LePage '13], and Grace [Kerr] had to run by themselves because we were in a gap between teams," said coach Peter Slovenski. "They ran so smart with their pacing, and showed the best courage in their last laps."
The performance of the 4x800 team was not the only one that broke records on Saturday. Sophomore Michele Kaufman ran a 9.01 in the semifinals of the women's 60-meter hurdle to break the previous record. She finished eighth at the meet and gained a provisional qualification for the NCAA Championship.
"Open New England is a meet that we use to get school records, NCAA qualifying times and personal bests, and every time a Bowdoin runner stepped on the track we did just that," said Christina Argueta '11 who had the highest individual finish among all Bowdoin athletes coming in fourth place in the 5000-meter. "Because my race was at the end of the day, I was able to use my teammates' performance as inspiration when I did step onto the track."
Slovenski has been pleased with Argueta's performance of late.
"Christina has been on fire this month with personal bests and great races," he said.
Kerr was satisfied with the team's performance racing against D-I schools.
"Running against D-I schools, it is easy to psych yourself out. I think we did well as a team staying relaxed and doing what we know how to do best," she said. "I think we're ready to perform at a very high level in the outdoor season."
The team's season has yet to end as its next meet is at the ECAC meet at the Armory Track and Field Center in New York.
"I would like to better my time at this weekend's meet," said Argueta. "This weekend is a last-chance meet for people to qualify for Nationals, so those of us that are far down the list of qualifiers, or on the fence, want to up our performances so we have a better chance of getting in."