April 18, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Track & Field Finishes 5th at Bowdoin Aloha Relays

Northampton, MA: Junior Etta Grover-Silva (Arcata, CA) won the pole vault and set a new facility record (11' 7 3/4") while the team finished fifth at the Bowdoin Aloha Relays today in Brunswick, Maine. Etta's vault provisionally qualified her for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships.

First year Ruby Western (Burlington, VT)  won the discus with a throw of 42.12m, setting a new Smith record and qualified for New Englands, ECAC's and Open New England's. In the 100m dash, Uzuri Sims (San Diego, CA) placed 2nd (13.09), Mary Cote (Gardiner, MT) 5th in 13.28 and Clair Edwards (Klamath Falls, OR) 7th in 13.54, all personal best times and all qualified for New Englands. Sims also had a great performance in the 200m as she finished 4th in 26.97 that qualified her for New Englands. Katie Eison-Washington (Portland, OR) and Alina Ainyette (South Orange, NJ) finished 8th and 9th respectively in that event. Ainyette also had a top-ten finish (9th) in the 400m (1:04.03). Junior Anna Cressotti (Southampton, MA) finished 6th in the 800m (2:20.66) and qualified for New Englands while Kristin Peck (Bethlehem, NY) finished 8th in 2:22.73. The 4x100 meter relay team (Cote, Edwards, Eison-Washington and Caitlin Ritchie (Meriden, CT) finished 2nd in 51.50 while the 4x400m relay team (Cressotti, Alice Kaufman (Medford, MA), Anna Leversee (Keene, NH) and Peck)took third in 4:16.25.  The long jump produced two New England qualifiers for the Pioneers in Cote (3rd place; 5.05m) and Edwards (5th place, 4.97m).  Other top ten performances were given by Shakwan Etienne (West Orange, NJ) and Western who placed 6th and 7th respectively in the shot put and Elizabeth Dernbach, (Naples, FL) who took 10th in the 100m hurdles.

Bowdoin won the meet with 244 points followed by Bates (150), Colby (123), U. Southern Maine (91), Smith (59) and Mount Holyoke (2). The Pioneers will compete next weekend at the NEWMAC championship held at Mount Holyoke College.