This past Saturday the Bowdoin women's indoor track team faced a tough meet against NESCAC rival Tufts, as well as non-conference foes Springfield and Gordon Colleges. While the women fell to the Jumbos, 270 to 173.5, they overcame both Springfield and Gordon to finish second overall.
Winning both the pole vault and the weight throw for the second week in a row, Laura Perovich '05 was Bowdoin's only individual winner. These victories made Perovich the highest individual scorer in the meet.
Joining Perovich in the pole vault were Alyssa Chen '08, who had a personal best, clearing nine feet to come in second, and Becca Perry '07, who took fourth reaching a height of 8'6", making the pole vault the highest scoring event of the meet for Bowdoin.
Weight throw was another high scoring event for the Polar Bears with Perovich throwing 50'4.75" to take first and Louise Duffus '07 second with 49' 5.75". Both threw far enough to qualify provisionally for Nationals for the second week in a row, while first-year Liz Leiwant threw a personal best to come in ninth place.
In the other throwing event of the day, shot put, Perovich and Duffus again dominated, both qualifying for New England DIII's, with throws of 38'6.25" and 38'2.25" respectively to finish second and third.
In the other field events, junior co-captain Natasha Camilo finished sixth, jumping 14'5.25", and Chen finished eighth with a jump of 14'1.75".
In the high jump, Jess DePalo '08 and Erin Prifogle '07 both jumped 4'9.75" to take third and fifth respectively. Prifogle went on to compete in the 55m hurdles, making it to the finals and finishing fourth in 9.35 seconds. Emily Hackert '06 finished second in a time of 9.18 seconds. Both times were fast enough to qualify the two women for New England DIII's.
Hackert and Prifogle also competed in the 200m along with Ruth Jacobson '06 and Gina Campelia '07. Hackert sprinted to a time of 28.02 seconds, fast enough to earn her fourth overall and qualify her for New England DIII's.
Jacobson got a personal best, finishing in seventh just ahead of Campelia, who placed eighth. Prifogle finished thirteenth in 30.43 seconds.
Jacobson also competed in the 200m and 55m dash, an event in which all three Bowdoin runners made it to the finals. Jacobson and Kate Halloran '07 ran times fast enough to qualify them for New England DIII's.
Halloran finished third in 7.79 seconds and Jacobson fourth with 7.81 seconds, while senior Mara Partridge finished eighth in 8.15 seconds.
Campelia also represented Bowdoin in the 400m, taking second and qualifying for New England DIII's in 62.25 seconds.
Also qualifying for New England DIII's were Emily Sheffield '06 and Ivy Blackmore '07?who achieved yet another personal best for the Bears?in the 600m, where they finished fifth and sixth with times of 1:42.94 and 1:44.38, respectively. Also competing in the 600m was senior Molly Juhlin, who finished ninth in 1:48.74.
Senior captain Katie Walker competed in her first meet of the season, coming back from an injury to run a time of 2:20.3 in the 800m and take third and qualify for DIII's, ECACs, and Open New Englands.
"It was a big boost for us to get Katie Walker back in the lineup. Katie is one of our most experienced and talented runners, and she had an excellent race," Coach Slovenski said.
First-year Holly Feeser continued to show her talent, this time in the 800m, finishing right behind Walker in fourth with 2:21.45, qualifying for DIII's and ECACs.
The team also had a strong field in the 1000m, with their top three finishers qualifying for New England DIII's, and making it the second highest scoring event of the day for Bowdoin.
First year Amy Ahearn took second in the race in 3:10.53, with fellow first year Courtney Eustace finishing close behind in third with 3:12.14, Ellen Beth '05 finished fifth with 3:13.81, Gessy LePage '07 came in sixth in 3:14.96, and Aisha Woodward '08 ran to a time of 3:24.54 to finish ninth.
Beth and Eustace pulled a tough double by also competing in the mile, where Beth qualified for New England DIII's, racing intelligently and finishing in 5:23.33, which earned her second place overall, while Eustace finished third in 5:28.57.
In the longest race of the day for the women, the 3k, Kristen Brownell improved upon her previous time to finish in third with 11:03.28, while fellow sophomore, Jamie Knight, got a personal best, taking fifth in 11:25.06.
In the relay events, Bowdoin took third with the team of Camilo, LePage, Ahearn, and Partridge in the 4x200m, and in the 4x400m, Campelia joined Feeser, Sheffield, and Hackert to finish second.
Tonight the Bowdoin women's team will defend their four year title as Maine State Champions in the Maine State Meet. Facing NESCAC rivals Colby and Bates, the meet is set to start at 6:00 p.m. at the University of Southern Maine.