The women's track and field team made the most of its holiday weekend in Storrs, Conn. The Bears battled eight other teams to a second place finish on Saturday. Brown finished only behind the host University of Connecticut, and the day proved to be a strong outing for the squad. Many used the event as a training run for the team's outdoor home meet, the Brown Invitational this weekend.
Brown finished with 141.5 points, behind the Huskies with 224 but well ahead of the University of Rhode Island and Harvard.
"Although it was a scored meet, we did not go after points or try to win the meet by doubling and tripling our athletes," said Director of Track and Field Craig Lake. "The weather was horrific, and the goal was to simply compete hard and do the best we could. It was a pleasant surprise to finish second ... without really trying."
Two of the Bears' most reliable runners throughout the season, Smita Gupta '08 and Naja Ferjan '07, highlighted the day with wins in their respective events. Gupta earned gold in the 1,500-meter run, finishing in a time of 4:41.59, and Ferjan blazed to a victory in the 800-meter run in 2:12.06. Five Bears competed in the 800, which served as a major scoring bonanza for Brown. It raked in 25 points from that race alone.
Though the weather was miserable, the team shined through the frigid temperatures.
"(The coaches told us to) try to forget about the fact that it was only 35 degrees out and try to ignore the wind," Ferjan said. "Go for the win. The times were not that important because of the conditions."
Sprinter Akilah King '08 picked up where she left off last year in the outdoor season where she scored in both the 200 meter and 400 meter events at the Heptagonal Championships. King ran to a third place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.99 seconds.
Despite the strong performances on the track, the Bears are missing one of their most dominating competitors. The winner of the 400-meter run at Indoor Heps this year, Nicole Burns '09, was unavailable to run this weekend.
"We are hurt by the fact that one of our star runners, Nicole Burns, has a calf strain, and we do not know if she will be back any time soon," Lake said. "This could really hurt us at the Ivy League Championships, and others will need to step it up."
Others did step up in the field events at UConn. Tiffany Chang '08 and Cassandra Wong '10 finished second and third in the jumps with scores of 11-feet, 5.75-inches and 10-11.75 respectively. King claimed third in the triple jump with a jump of 37-6.75, and teammate Rikki Baldwin '07, a four-year contributor to the volleyball team making the transition to track, added to the score by coming in fourth in the event with a leap of 35-6. Shannon Stone '10 made it three straight for Brown with a fifth-place jump of 35-3.75 to round out the scoring. Stone also landed a fifth-place finish in the long jump behind Scott, who placed fourth in the event with a distance of 17-4.
Danielle Grunloh '10 notched a fourth-place finish and personal best in the discus with a throw of 134-feet, 2-inches and pulled double duty on the afternoon, scoring a fifth-place finish in the shot put with a 40-10.5 throw. The hammer throw was also a point-scoring event for the Bears. Molly Hawksley '09 placed fourth with 153-feet 7.5-inches, followed by Samantha Kuo '09 in fifth in a 146-9, a personal best.
Although the competition this weekend was an important benchmark for the team in this outdoor season, it has a long road to Heps in May.
"On an individual level, we are hoping to get as many NCAA Regional qualifiers as possible," Lake said. "We are in the NCAA East Region, and there are four regions in the nation. The Regional meet is where you qualify for Nationals. We are hoping to raise the bar of expectations and get this program to the top of the Ivy League and onto a national level."
The Brown Invitational will be held Saturday at Brown Stadium.
