Lee Joins List of NE DIII Qualifiers for Wellesley Track & Field at Silfen Invite

NEW LONDON, Conn.-- Senior Priscilla Lee (Anaheim, Calif.) cleared 1.54m (5'0.5") on her fourth attempt, finishing 13th overall in the high jump while qualifying for the New England Division III Championships as Wellesley College track and field completed their second day of competition at the Silfen Invitational at Connecticut College on Saturday. 

Lee joins fellow seniors Taylor Fortnam (Portola Valley, Calif.) and Isabella King (Cincinnati, Ohio) and sophomores Taylor Mahlandt (Ephrata, Pa.) and Tatenda Rameau (Syracuse, N.Y.) among the Wellesley qualifiers for next month's NE DIII Championships. Fortnam, King, and Mahlandt all hit qualifying marks on Friday evening at Connecticut College, while Rameau registered a qualifying mark in the long jump for the third straight weekend, finishing as the runner-up in the event with a leap of 5.11m on Saturday. 

King also competed in the 400m and the Javelin on Saturday, finishing 30th in the 400m in 1:07.91 and 19th in the javelin with a mark of 27.60. . Sophomore Elizabeth Wegman (East Sandwich, Mass.) had the top mark for the Blue in the 400m, finishing 26th in 1:05.82, while sophomore Kiana Stacy (Gaithersburg, Md.) joined King in the javelin, finishing 31st with a mark of 14.85m.

Sophomore Crystalina Guo (Montgomery, N.J.) established a new school record in the discus, finishing 14th overall with a mark of 31.20m. Guo was also the top Blue competitor in the Shot Put, taking 26th (10.00). After finishing 32nd (9.68) in the shot, junior Helen Andersen (Madison, N.J.) went on to finish 24th (37.26m) in the hammer, just ahead of Guo in 26th (36.65m) and senior Caroline Hsu (Boca Raton, Fla.) in 35th (29.48m).

Rameau added a fifth place finish in the 200m to her runner-up performance in the long jump, clocking in at 26.32 seconds. First years Rachel Berets (Belmont, Mass.) and Aiyana Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and junior Yuriko Fukumura (Newton, Mass.) rounded out the Blue competitors in the 200m, taking 58th (29.98), 61st (30.06), and 62nd (30.13), respectively. Fukumura and Smith would also add times of 14.07 (39th) and 14.46 (44th) in the 100m.

Berets' top performance on the day came in the 100m hurdles, where she finished in 12th place with a time of 17.21. Teammate Cathy Chen (Parsippany, N.J.) just edged Berets in 11th with a time of 17.13, adding to a successful day that also included a fourth place finish of 1:09.04 in the 400m hurdles. Junior Jenn Harris (Vestal, N.Y.) and first year Hana Sugioka (Newbury Park, Calif.) joined Chen in the 400m hurdles, finishing 16th (1:15.22) and 23rd (1:18.93) overall.

First years Flora Naylor (San Antonio, Texas) and Ava Shipman (Makawao, Hawaii) each competed in the 800m before teaming with classmate April Chu (Fremont, Calif.) and Wegman in the 4x400 relay. Naylor led the way in the 800m, taking 51st in (2:34.91), while Shipman was 65th in 2:44.04. They then went on to help the Blue to an 11th place time of 4:52.76 in the 4 x 400m.

Chu was also the top finisher among five Wellesley runners in Saturday's 1500m, taking 45th overall in 5:12.54. Classmates Grace Cowles (Yarmouth, Maine) and Samara Shaz (New York, N.Y.) followed in 47th (5:13.14) and 54th (5:17.94), respectively. Senior Clare Salerno (Johnson, Vt.) added a time of 5:19.25 (58th) and first year Taylor Balfour (Rockville, Md.) was 77th (5:43.63). Sophomore Fiona Harrigian (San Marino, Calif.) rounded out the list of competitors on Saturday with a time of  20:23.86 (43rd) in the 5000m.

Wellesley will return to competition on Saturday, April 21 when they travel to Brunswick, Maine for the Aloha Relays at Bowdoin College.