Shaz, Winkler Pace Wellesley Track & Field at MIT’s Gordon Kelly Invite
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Junior Samara Shaz (New York, N.Y.) took first place in the Mile and first year Kathryn Winkler (Bedford, Mass.) was the top finisher in the 400m to lead Wellesley College track & field on Saturday at the Gordon Kelly Invitational, hosted by MIT.
Shaz finished with a PR of 5:30.69 in the mile to win the event. The Blue placed three of the top-ten finishers in the mile, with first year Claire Anderson (Denver, Colo.) following Shaz in fourth (5:34.97) and senior Fiona Harrigian (San Marino, Calif.) finishing with an 8th place PR of 5:45.45. First Year Bethany Pasko (Wellesley, Mass.) also added a 17th place finish (6:34.85).
Winkler was just under her personal best pace in the 400m, running to a winning time of 1:03.78, just tenths of a second better than her time of 1:03.98 earlier this season at the BU Terrier Classic. Winkler also added a top-ten time in the 200m, finishing 8th in 28.70.
First year Sally Richardson (Orono, Minn.) was Wellesley's top competitor in the 200m, earning runner-up honors with a PR of 27.45. The result was one of two top-three finishes for Richardson who also took third in the 400m with a PR of 1:04.46, five seconds faster than her time at the season opening Smith Winter Classic. Sophomore Amy Tao (Hong Kong, China) added a second runner-up performance for Wellesley finishing as the runner-up in the 3000m with a PR of 11:12.08.
Richardson, Winkler, and classmate Arianna Sablad (Colorado Springs, Colo.) all competed in the same heat in the 200m, finishing second, fourth and fifth, respectively. Sablad was 12th overall (29.17) in the event, while junior Junior Aiyana Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added a 14th place finish (30.19). Sablad and Smith also added times of 8.70 (11th) and 8.98 (16th) in the 60m Dash on Saturday.
Wellesley's top time in the 60m Dash belonged to first year Madeline Morocco (Mansfield, Mass.), who paced the three Blue competitors in the event with a PR of 8.61, finishing second in her heat and 7th overall. Morocco was also seventh in the Long Jump with a mark of 4.83m (15'10.50") on her third attempt.
Junior Rachel Berets (Belmont, Mass.) and first year Ariel Traver (Palo Alto, Calif.) also competed in the long jump for Wellesley, finishing 24th (4.20m) and 26th (4.06m), respectively. Senior Josephine Kim (Orange County, Calif.) was the only Blue competitor in the Triple Jump, earning a 16th place finish with a leap of 9.51m.
Senior Crystalina Guo (Montgomery, N.J.) was the top Wellesley performer in both the Shot Put and the Weight Throw. Guo earned Wellesley's only top-ten finish in throws in the shot, finishing ninth with a mark of 10.01m. Guo was 15th (12.05) in the weight throw. First year Shania Baldwin (Houston, Texas) added a 15th place (9.12m) finish in the shot and a 19th place performance in the weight throw (11.56m), while junior Abigail Parakoyi (Houston, Texas) finished 16th in the shot (8.86m) and 21st in the weight throw with a toss of 10.52m.
Next up, Wellesley will compete at the Bowdoin College Invitational on Saturday, February 22, in Brunswick, Maine.