SMITHFIELD, RI (March 27, 2026) – The Tufts University women's outdoor track & field team scored in 13 of the 16 events they competed in on Friday, including several top national marks, as the Jumbos performed strongly at the Jaylin Rainford Invitational hosted by Bryant University.
The meet was originally scheduled for two days. However, with a cold weather forecast for tomorrow, all of the events were held on Friday. Team scoring at the meet saw Tufts place fourth out of 16 teams with 87 points.
In Tufts' first 3000-meter steeplechase of the season, senior
Lexi Dean ran an 11:14.37 PR time that is #1 in the nation as of Friday night. Second in the event, she moves into Tufts' top 10 all-time for the 3000S at #9.
The Jumbos were also in their first 10,000 meters race of the spring, where senior
Liz Donahue had a 36:28.09 time that is #2 nationally and sophomore
Zoe Margolies' 36:41.53 time is #4 in DIII early on. They were fourth and fifth in the event, respectively. While Donahue's mark was not her career PR, Margolies' was, and she takes over the #6 spot in Tufts' all-time ranking for the 10K.
An outstanding distance team performance today also included four Jumbos in the 5000 meters. In her first collegiate outdoor meet, first-year
Zui Chinchalkar ran 17:17.82 in the 5K to finish fifth at the meet, earn a #5 national ranking and jump into the #8 all-time ranking at Tufts. Sophomore
Samara McVey's 17:52.95 mark was a PR and is the #12 DIII time. Sophomore
Eleanor Whitehouse (18:18.58) and senior
Gwenyth Stach (18:29.17) both notched PR's that are among the national top 50 early in the season.
Sophomore Lauren Zipoi finished second in the 100-meter hurdles with a PR time of 14.84 seconds, which improves her DIII ranking to sixth in the event. She is also now #7 at Tufts for the event.
Junior
Ceci LaBarge's 49.40m (162'1") distance in the hammer throw was third among 30 competitors today and is the #10 mark in the nation early in the season. In the javelin throw, sophomore
Harper Danforth led three Jumbos who earned top 20 national marks. Danforth's 39.23m (128'8") PR was the runner-up out of 20 individuals, is #11 nationally as of Friday night and also earns her #3 all-time at Tufts. Junior
Tessa Player improved her national ranking to 17th with today's 38.05m (124'10") that is her PR and was third in the event. Junior
Jackie Wells had a 37.40m (122'8") for fifth place and #18 nationally.
First-year
Lily Simmonds placed sixth in the 800 meters with the #20 DIII time of 2:17.54, and she was fifth in the 1500 with a 4:42.13 finish that is #13 in DIII. First-year
Elena Clark made her outdoor debut and posted a 3.25m (10'8") best mark in the pole vault, which was third at the meet and was #35 on the national list Friday night.
The Jumbos scored three times in the high jump, led by first-year
Camille Brand's second-place 1.50m (4'11") mark. First-year
Eleanor Lewis placed fifth and Zipoli was seventh, both with 1.45m (4'9") clearance. Player was the sixth-place finisher in the long jump at a 5.10m (16'8 ¾") distance, Wells was seventh in the shot put (11.28m – 37'0 ¼") and first-year
Isabella Romero took eighth in the triple jump (10.10m – 33'1 ¾").
Junior
Kaya West's 4:50.01 PR in the 1500 meters was 10th in the event and earned a national top 40 spot.
Other event leaders today were sophomore
Natalie Germanov in the 100 meters (14.17), senior
Paige Zhang in the 400-meter hurdles (1:12.02) and sophomore
Julia Saporito in the discus throw (33.36m – 109'5").
Tufts continues its season at the Amherst Spring Fling next Saturday.
--JUMBOS--
