Women's Middle Distance Showcased at Fasttrack National Invite

Friday, February 9

Ocean Breeze (Staten Island)

All Day

Princeton University

Fasttrack Invitational

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Women's Middle Distance Showcased at Fasttrack National Invite

February 09, 2018 | Women's Track and Field

Results

The Princeton women's track & field team returned to Staten Island to compete at the Fasttrack National Invitational on Friday, Feb. 9 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex. The Tigers finished the meet with a handful of personal bests and showcased a great deal of depth and strength.

Junior Gabi Forrest, who was the Ivy League Champion in cross country this year, led the Tiger pack in the 3000 race with a personal best of 9:31.20 and a first-place finish. In the same race, freshman Peyton Brown finished in third at 9:38.55 and junior Allie Klimkiewicz placed fourth with another personal best at 9:38.60. Additionally, freshman Melia Chittenden, sophomore Rachel Granovsky and senior Melissa Reed placed seventh, tenth and twelfth respectively.

The mile was a very big event for the Tigers—two runners placed in the top five and three personal records were achieved. Freshman Sophie Cantine ran a personal best in second place with a finishing time of 4:49.30. Behind her in fifth was junior Brighie Leach with a time of 4:52.18 and sophomore Delaney Miller in sixth at 4:53.23. Sophomore Madeleine Sumner running with a cast on her arm, managed to run personal best in tenth with a 4:57.55 finishing time. Junior Mim Buscher ran a personal record of 5:01.84 and classmate Madison Offstein and sophomores Melinda Renuart and Erin Endres placed right behind her.

In the 800 race, juniors Jackie Berardo placed second with a 2:10.20. Classmate Anna Jurew finished directly behind her at 2:10.23. Berardo and Jurew both ran faster at this meet compared to last year.

Sophomore Christina Walter crossed the finish line in second at 24.45, almost a full second ahead of her time at this meet last year. Freshman Katie DiFrancesco ran a collegiate personal best of 24.85 for a fifth-place finish.

Freshman Lindsey Schmidt cleared 1.65m (5-5) in the high jump event and finished in fifth. Classmate Kara Steele jumped 11.46m (37-7.25) in the triple jump for another fifth-place finish as well. Sophomore Kennedy O'Dell threw a personal best of 14.45m (47-5) in the shot put and placed third in the weight throw with a 18.57m (60-11.25) toss. Sophomore Ellen Scot-Young placed two spots behind her with a 16.59m (54-5.25) throw.

The Tigers could not have asked for a better end to the meet, with first and second place finishes in the women's 4x400m relay. The Tiger A team, which consisted of freshman Samantha Anderson, sophomore Devon Block-Funkhouser, junior Carly Bonnet and sophomore Ashley Willingham, finished at 3:48.57 and the B team finished at 3:51.85.

Princeton will hosts the Princeton Invitational next Saturday, Feb. 17 in the final meet before Ivy League Heps.