On Friday, March 1st and Saturday, March 2nd, the Mammoths competed at the Open New England Championships and on Saturday, March 2nd, the National Qualifying Meet. We had two School Records as Mia Bawendi broke her own School Record in the Pole Vault, clearing 3.69 meters (12' 1.25") and Casie Eifrig broke her own record in the 400, running a time of 57.27 seconds!
Mia Bawendi competing in the Pole Vault
Open New Englands
Long Jump
The action got started on Friday in the Men's Long Jump, where Yeob Kim placed seventh with his second best jump of the season, jumping 6.88 meters (22' 7")! Adrian Friedman placed 16th, jumping 6.56 meters (21' 6.25").
Pole Vault
The Men's Pole Vault was before the Women's, where Alec Kuzyk placed 13th, clearing 4.25 meters (13' 11.25").
In the Women's Pole Vault, Mia Bawendi had a fantastic day, placing second with a School Record and personal best performance, clearing 3.69 meters (12' 1.25")! Mia cleared the bar on her second attempt at the height! This is the second time this season Mia broke the School Record in the event!
Casie Eifrig and Christa Prasertsintanah competing in the 400
800
The first track event of the day for the Mammoths was the 800. Ben Davis got out to a quick start, leading the field. Ben pushed the pace and with the field still close with one lap to go, he kicked hard on the last lap to pull away to win his heat in a personal best time of 1:52 which was also the fastest time of the day! Kolya Markov-Riss competed in a different heat and got out hard and placed second in his heat in a season best time of 1:54!
400
Casie Eifrig got out hard and lead the head through the first lap of the race and closed well and never relinquished her lead, finishing in a new School Record and personal best time of 57.27 seconds! This is the third time this season she has broken the School Record in the event! Casie ran the fifth fastest time of the day in the event. Competing in a different heat, Christa Prasertsintanah got out hard in second place and held that position for the second lap, running a time of 58.96 seconds to place thirteenth.
200
Héloïse Hughes placed second in her heat of the 200, running a time of 25.58 seconds, also the ninth fastest time of the day!
Michael Abbey competing in the Triple Jump
Open New Englands - Day 2
Triple Jump
Michael Abbey was the only Mammoth who competed at the Open New England Championships on Saturday, placing third with a jump of 14.15 meters (46' 5.25"), his second best jump of the season!
National Qualifying Meet
Piper Lentz running the 800 leg of the DMR
Pole Vault
Mia Bawendi competed again after breaking her own School Record on Friday and on Saturday, she cleared 3.53 meters (11' 7") to place fifth in a strong field.
Distance Medley Relay
In the Women's DMR, Zoë Marcus led off for the Mammoths on the 1200 leg and immediately put herself in the mix on a competitive leg. Zoë chased down the race leader to hand off in a near tie for third place. After passing the baton to Casie for the 400 leg, Casie got out well with the pack and then pulled away from the competition to give the Mammoths the lead when she handed off to Piper Lentz for the 800 leg! Piper got out well and after being passed with one lap to go, Piper held on well and handed off to Julia Schor in second place for the 1600 leg! Julia got out well and reeled in the race leader by the second lap of her leg, racing patiently. Julia raced well in a tight and competitive pack and used a strong kick in the final lap to cross the finish line in third place! With the Mammoths finishing time of 11:48 and because of the conversion from the flat track to a banked track, the Mammoths time converted to 11:41, improving upon their previous time run in February, a time of 11:43, to qualify for Nationals as the 10th fastest DMR in the nation this season!
The Mammoths had two Men's Distance Medley Relays compete, the "A" team composed of Parker Boyle, Kolya Markov-Riss, Ben Davis and Henry Dennen and the "B" team composed of Will Nagy, Ian Dopp, Josh Thomas and Stan Craig.
The 1200 leg got out very fast, and Parker Boyle and Will Nagy hung towards the back of the pack, sensing the fast pace. After three laps, they began to move up the field. Both used strong kicks on the final lap and Parker handed off in third place and Will handed off in fifth place! Kolya Markov-Riss, running on the "A" team, held his position to hand off to Ben Davis for the 800 leg, and Ian Dopp held his position in fifth place to hand off to Josh Thomas in fifth place! Ben Davis ran a fantastic leg, gradually reeling in the second place team to take over second place when he handed off to Henry Dennen for the 1600 leg! Josh Thomas ran hard and handed off to Stan Craig in sixth place. Henry got out to a quick start and got the Mammoths in touch with the race leaders. Stan got out well and gradually reeled in the fifth place team, and never relinquished fifth place when he got into that position. Henry competed hard as the leg continued and gave it everything he had, bringing the Mammoths across the finish line in third place and a time of 9:54! The time, converted from a flat track time to a banked track time of 9:46, makes the Mammoths the 14th fastest team in the Nation, just missing Nationals as the top-12 teams qualify. Stan brought the "B" team across the finish line in a time of 10:06, beating other team's best teams, showing the Mammoths depth in the event!
We are so grateful for all of the families and friends who came and cheered on our Mammoths across two days of competition!
UP NEXT for the Mammoths is the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday March 8th and Saturday March 9th! Eliza Cardwell qualified to compete in the 60 Meter Hurdles and Long Jump and the Women's Distance Medley Relay of Zoë Marcus, Casie Eifrig, Piper Lentz and Julia Schor qualified too!
Eliza will compete in the Long Jump on Friday at 11 AM and then the 60 Hurdles Prelims on Friday at 1:30 PM and the 60 Meter Hurdles Final will be contested on Saturday at 3 PM. The Women's Distance Medley Relay will compete on Friday at 6 PM.