Blue Track & Field Racks Up Ten First Place Finishes at Pioneer Invite

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Wellesley College track & field totaled ten first place finishes and broke four school records in a dominating team display on Saturday at the Smith College Pioneer Invitational. 

Junior Isabella Narvaez (Cali, Colombia) and first year Cathy Chen (Parsippany, N.J.) broke school records in the 200m Dash and the 100m Hurdles, respectively, while first year Helen Andersen (Madison, N.J.) took fourth place with a school record (32.87m) performance in the hammer and sophomore Isabella King (Cincinnati, Ohio) set a new school mark in the javelin with a throw of 29.95m. 

Narvaez ran to a time of 25.81 in the 200m, taking down her own school record of 26.20. Narvaez also cruised to a first place time of 57.70 in the 400m Dash. The junior's 200m time was both a Division III New England (DIII NE) and ECAC Division III (ECAC DIII) Championship qualifying time, while her 400m time was an NE DIII, ECAC DIII and an NEICAAA All-New England qualifying mark.

Chen won both the 100m and 400m Hurdles, establishing a new school record in the 100m Hurdles with a time of 17 seconds flat, while qualifying for the ECAC DIII Championships in the 400m Hurdles. Chen just clipped Savanna Johnson's nine-year-old school record time of 17.09 in the event. In the 400m Hurdles, the first year led a one-two Wellesley sweep with a first place time of 1:07.93. Senior Caitlin Bailey (Old Forge, N.Y.), the current school record holder in the event, took second with a DIII NE qualifying mark of 1:09.82. 

Sophomore Abena Asare (Berlin, N.J.) was the third member of the Blue to pick up a pair of first place finishes on the day, earning one on the track and one in the field. Asare clocked in at 12.87 to win her heat and secure the top time in the 100m Dash. The indoor Long Jump All-American then returned later in the day to post a DIII NE qualifying leap of 5.05m to win the event.

Junior Mary Keenan (Boerne, Texas) joined Narvaez as the only other member of the Blue to qualify for the DIII NE, ECAC DIII and NEICAAA Championships in an event when she took first in the 3000m Steeplechase with a time of 11:17.07.

Wellesley continued to roll throughout the remainder of competition. Senior Sharon Ng (Sunnyvale, Calif.) and junior Sonja Cwik (La Cañada, Calif.) finished one-two in the 800m Run, with Ng recording a time of 2:20.35 and Cwik a mark of 2:22.47. The Blue then went on to take two top-five finishes in the 5000m Run, as junior Edie Sharon (Winchester, Mass.) was first in 19:05.11 and senior Heather Smith (Detroit, Mich.) was fourth in 19:39.61. In the 10,000m Run, junior Sara Vannah (Amherst, Mass.) posted the top time of 40.32.07 to lead another one-two Wellesley sweep. First year Catherine Xie (Newton, Mass.) followed in second in 41:58.50.

Other top-five finishes for the Blue included: junior Emma Scalisi's (Waltham, Mass.) fourth place (9.98m) finish in the Triple jump and fifth place (4.67m) finish in the long jump (4.67m), sophomore Priscilla Lee's (Anaheim, Calif.) third place (4.86m) finish in the long jump, and seniors Alessandra Gavin (Annapolis, Md.) and Laura Brindley (Mercer Island, Wash.) taking third (5:08.30) and fourth (5:09.19) place, respectively, in the 1500m.

Up next, Wellesley track & field will head to the two-day Connecticut College Silfen Invitational next Friday and Saturday, April 15-16, in New London, Conn.