MEDFORD - With five individuals earning victories, the Tufts University women's indoor track & field team won the first home invitational of the season on Saturday at the Gantcher Center. The Jumbos accumulated 190.5 points to out-distance second place UMass Lowell (156).
In the high jump, junior Dayorsha Collins (Boston, MA) won and extended her NCAA provisional qualifying mark by clearing 5'6" (1.68m). She nudged up her previous NCAA mark of 5'5 3/4" (1.67m), set in December at Northeastern. Collins was also third in the 200 meter run, finishing in 26.90 seconds. Tufts junior Heather Theiss (North Woodmere, NY) got over the bar at 10'6" (3.20m) in the pole vault for first.
The Jumbos dominated the distance events on Saturday, with wins in the mile, 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. Senior Amy Wilfert (Westborough, MA) won the mile in a 5:06.76 time. Jumbo Julia Hajnoczky (Wallingford, PA) was the runner-up in the event at 5:22.21. In the 3,000 meters, first year Lauren Creath (Corte Madera, CA) edged UMass Lowell's Nicole Skotz with a winning 10:50.42 time. Sophomore Lilly Fisher (Kansas City, MO) was 12 seconds ahead of the field in the 5,000 meters (18:18.9).
Senior tri-captain Kanku Kabongo (Abington, MA) had a trio of runner-up performances for Tufts. After finishing eighth in the preliminaries, she ran 8.10 seconds in the finals of the 60 meters for second. Her time of 26.60 seconds in the 200 meters, and her 16'6" (5.03m) distance in the long jump were also second-best. In the throwing events, sophomore Kelly Allen (Norton, MA) added a pair of seconds, in the shot put (40'4 3/4"/12.31m) and weight throw (45'7 1/4"/13.90m).
Other Tufts seconds were Wilfert's 3:07.97 in the 1,000 and a 1:03.87 400 meters from first year Colleen Flanagan (Boxborough, MA). The 4x4 - sophomore Alyssa Corrigan (Wellesley, MA), sophomore Sam Bissonnette (Bridgewater, MA), Flanagan and Collins - combined on a 4:22.20 time for second. In the 4x8, Tufts' Jen Yih (Palo Alto, CA), Lauren Flament (Shelton, CT), Hajnoczky and first year Laura Peterson (Melrose, MA) had a second-place 10:21.10 time.
The Jumbos are at the Springfield Invitational next Saturday.
Meet Results
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