The men and women of indoor track won four events last Sunday at the USA Track and Field New England Indoor Championships hosted by Harvard. Some of the athletes used the meet as a final tune-up before the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Championships next Saturday and Sunday at Cornell, while others wrapped up their seasons.
"It gave us a confidence booster," said Susan Scavone '12. "We're all really excited and pumped up."
Scavone captured the 60-meter hurdles title, finishing the race in 8.53 seconds.
"The best practice for me is to race," Scavone said. "So I was very adamant about (Associate Head Coach Marc Mangiacotti) putting me in the race."
Scavone added that the race was particularly valuable for her because there were no preliminary heats. This gave her an opportunity to simulate the competition at the Ivy League championships, where finals are on a different day than preliminaries, preventing athletes from having a trial-run in preliminaries.
Additional first-place efforts were given by Jessica Eason '14 in the shot put with a heave of 13.08 meters and the women on the 4x400 yard relay, who finished the event in 4 minutes 8 seconds. Mitchell Baker, assistant track and field coach, said Tess Plant-Thomas '13 had a strong performance in the 800m race, running a time of 2:14.
"She looked really strong in the second half," Baker said. "She can be a little more aggressive in the coming weeks."
The men were led by John Spooney '14, who won the 60m dash in 6.95 seconds. Other strong performances were given by Nate Elder '13, who finished fifth in the 400m dash, and Mark McGurrin '15, who finished fourth in the 3,000m run.
Erik Berg '13 earned a second-place finish in the 800m run, with Colin Savage '14 finishing .4 seconds behind him in third place. Tom Elnick '12 finished three seconds behind Berg and Savage in fifth place. In the 60m hurdles, Hunter Warwick '15 finished third in a time of 8.58 seconds.
On the field, Albert Anderson '15 leaped 6.43m to finish third in the long jump, and Daniel Smith '13 threw the shot 15.47m to earn second in the shot put. Only .2 meters behind Smith, Matthew Miller '15 finished third. Meena Farid '15 finished fifth with a toss of 14.68m in the weight throw.
The teams now enter the final period of preparation before the Ivy League championships. Scavone said she is trying to keeping her head "clear" during this time.
"I want to leave everything on the track," Scavone said, "and not get distracted by anything I can't control."
