Wegman, Shaz Lead Wellesley Track & Field at Emory Invitational

ATLANTA, GA-- A pair of top-five performances in the 1500m highlighted the day for Wellesley College track and field on Day Two of the Emory Invitational.

Junior Elizabeth Wegman (East Sandwich, Mass.) finished second overall in her first collegiate 1500m with a time of 5:03.84, while sophomore Samara Shaz (New York, N.Y.) placed fifth with a time of 5:08.40. First year Natalie Li (Charlottesville, Va.) also impressed in her outdoor debut finishing in 5:13.28, which was good for a 12th place finish.

The 100m was also filled with PRs, as senior Yuriko Fukumura (Newton, Mass.) and sophomore Aiyana Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y.) set new bests with times of 13.81 and 13.90, respectively. Sophomore Rachel Berets (Belmont, Mass.) also made her debut in the 100m with a time of 14.23. Berets later finished 21st in the 100m Hurdles with a time of 16:86, four spots behind senior Cathy Chen (Parsippany, N.J.), who took 17th (16:57).

Also making her outdoor debut was first year Ava Yokanovich (Stillwater, Minn.) in the 400m, where she placed 15th with a time of 1:01.13. Yokanovich and Fukumura, Chen, and sophomore Hana Sugioka (Newbury Park, Calif.) finished 21st (52.54) in the 4 x 100m Relay.  

In the only field event of the day for the Blue, senior Helen Anderson (Madison, N.J) continued her success in the shot, finishing in 7th place out of 55, with a distance of 11.33m.

In the long distance event, senior Catherine Xie (Newton, Mass.) led the Blue with a time of 20:24.28 in the 5000m. Just off of her were junior Fiona Harrigian (San Marino, Calif.) with a time of 21:24.84 and first year Kaylee Hill (Hingham, Mass.) who finished in 21:53.90 in her outdoor debut.

Wellesley returns to action on Saturday, April 6, when they travel to New London, Conn for the U.S. Coast Guard Invitational.